'We Are Going to Filibus...What? What Do You Mean, Did I Check the Vote Count?'

Kerry and Kennedy called for a filibuster yesterday, and Harry Reid thought about it this morning, but stopped long enough to count votes before he came charging out of the tunnel with no team behind him:

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid admitted on Friday he and fellow Democrats lack the votes to block President George W. Bush's nomination of conservative appeals judge Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Everyone knows there is not enough votes to support a filibuster," Reid said, referring to the procedural roadblock that some Democrats said should be used to put off a vote on Alito.

The Nevada Democrat said, however, he would vote for such a measure to at least send a message of opposition to the nominee. That vote will come on Monday with final confirmation set for Tuesday.

I can't imagine that persisting in voting for a filibuster, even as a symbolic vote, could help any of these guys with constituents who don't hang out in the burnt-orange environs of the indigenous Internet moonbat.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) seems to have realized trashing Alito may not help him in his decidedly un-Kossy state.

The cloture vote is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Monday, and the final vote for Tuesday morning.