Alito Thoughts and How's That Union Doing?

The Alito votes are over. The filibuster was defeated yesterday 72-25, with 19 Democrats voting against it (if 13 of them had changed their vote--or even abstained--that would have been enough to maintain it). The nomination was approved today, 58-42. Fifteen Democrats switched their votes to vote against the nomination when that vote had lost its power to stop Alito. But was the filibuster attempt itself good or bad? Until we have greater hindsight to get a better idea, you can line up behind John Aravosis's explanation for why it was counterproductive or Jane Hamsher's vision of a brand new day.

As for Alito himself, he was quickly sworn in so he can appear with the rest of the Supremes in the House chamber for tonight's State of the Union. I wonder if Sandra Day O'Connor will be there, or if she's already retired back in Arizona.

Speaking of the SOTU, everybody's saying the big subject will be health policy, with the Prez hitting health savings accounts hard. Josh Marshall explains that the thought behind this initiative is that Americans have too much insurance. We're all over-insured. I don't suspect it will be hard for the Repubs to find consensus on that. Not hard at all. It might not be the consensus they're looking for, but I'm sure the country will develop widespread agreement on the subject one way or another.