I find all the "how should the Democrats be handling this nomination" diaries and comments interesting, but SHOULDN'T DEMOCRATIC STRATEGISTS HAVE WORKED THIS OUT AGES AGO?!?

Honestly. The time for thoughtful debates about how to respond to a stealth wingnut nominee was immediately after the O'Connor resignation (or even earlier). Yes, people have been discussing these things for weeks, but with no sense of real urgency, and without coming to any sort of coordinated plan of action. So we're stuck with Lieberman and other Gang of 14 Senators more or less promising an easy confirmation, Leahy and Schumer saying we'll need to wait and see, and interest groups like MoveOn and PAW screaming bloody murder.  The problem is not that everyone's not saying the same thing (a coordinated campaign can have different, complementary themes). The problem is that there simply doesn't appear to be a coordinated campaign. Sen. Kennedy defined the Bork nomination within hours of its announcement by giving a scathing speech on the Senate floor.  How is the Roberts nomination being defined? Read the above posted GOP memo...that about sums it up.

The Dems aren't my party, but like any progressive in this country, I have to rely an awful lot on them getting their act together.  And, once again, I'm left feeling pretty frustrated.