Reply #14: Didn't mean to insult you, but

[Burning Water]

there seem to be a lot of very sensitive people on this site who don't always read the comments, or the questions, of other posters. Perhaps I'm one of them. Wasn't the original question about whether or not we had a chance of a straight-up defeat of Alito? That is certainly the way that I read it.

If we lack the votes , or the will (which in practical terms amounts to the same thing), to either filibuster, prevent cloture, or prevent the nuclear option, then in what possible world do we have the votes to defeat Alito in a straight up-or-down vote??

If they had the votes to defeat Alito, why would they have to filibuster? Why would they fear a backlash? Again, I don't mean to be insulting, and I hope you don't take it that way, but I cannot follow your thinking.