Biden States The Obvious

Namely, that the Democrats will filibuster any Bush SCOTUS nominee whose views are to the right of Fidel Castro:

Senator Joe Biden said Sunday that if President Bush nominates recently confirmed Circuit Court Judge Janice Rogers Brown to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Senate Democrats will launch a filibuster."If [Bush] sent up Edith Jones, I could assure you that would be a very, very, very difficult fight - and she would probably be filibustered," Biden told CBS's Face the Nation.

In the next breath Biden corrected himself, saying: "I misspoke, I misspoke. Janice Rogers Brown is what I meant to say."

Interesting Freudian slip, huh? Of course, what he really meant, and was clumsy enough to let slip, is that they'll block Jones AND Brown, as well as Luttig, Roberts, McConnell, Garza, Estrada, Owen, Gonzalez, or...well, anybody to the right of Fidel Castro. Which means, as Steven Hayward at No Left Turns reminds us (via Powerline):

This is why it is essential that President Bush nominate someone that the Left regards as an 'extremist,' as only an 'extremist' can be relied upon to defend the Constitution rather than regard it as a plaything for social engineering.

The Jones/Brown slip wasn't the only one Senator Hairplugs made:

Asked whether that would break the Senate's much-heralded compromise last month not to filibuster judicial appointments except under "extraordinary circumstances," Biden explained:

"[The Supreme Court] is a totally different ball game. ... A circuit court judge is bound by stare decisis. They don't get to make new law. They have to abide by [legal precedent]." [emphasis added]

In the space of twenty-five words, Biden revealed what libs think the role of the Supreme Court is - as a sort of secularist American Guardian Council - and that, as we suspected all along, the entire years-long kerfuffle over the President's appellate court nominees was for the primary purpose of deterring him from appointing the Scalia/Thomas mold of justice that he has long promised to put on the High Court by showing how far they would go to thwart even his mid-level choices.

The Democrats are already throwing down the gauntlet. Republicans have absolutely nothing to lose by embracing the confrontation and going for the jugular.

Besides, I'd be delighted to watch Senators Graham and DeWine squirm.