By the way—I can't help pointing out that on that People for the American Way site, a leftist action group, is the first and only occasion where I've seen actual "Talking Points" listed for readers' perusal. Is this what people mean by "marching orders"? I've heard friends mention that right-wing sites are fond of issuing "talking points" to their minions; but as many such sites as I've visited in the last few years, I've never yet seen the specimens listed as such before today, and that—apparently—only because I ventured across the aisle in search of a good stance to quote.

UPDATE: Aha, so that's what "cloture" is about. Kenny B.:

Well, I could understand the concern if those candidates had actually been rejected or filibustered.  As it stands now, most were just held up in committee for an indefinite amount of time which did not even allow for debate, much less a filibuster.  That's the problem the Democrats have.  If these people are actually voted out of committee, then the debate may go against them.  While the Republicans still have a bitter taste in their mouth from Bork, it is no where near as intense as the bitter taste the Dems have from the confirmation of Justice Thomas.

This is not the first time that the cloture rule has been changed to allow fewer votes either.  It used to take 67 Senators (2/3) to close debate and end a filibuster, but that was changed to 60.  Take wild guess as to which party affected that change.

Your unease is being felt by many and noted by the Republicans.  That is why it is taking them so long to change the cloture rule.  The strategy seems to be to hold at the current stalemate status while the Dems continue to spout vitriol.  The Reps are allowing the Dems to take the obstructionist role on this issue and are hoping the public takes note.  Certainly the Dems are not helping themselves by allowing Byrd to invoke Godwin's law (via Wizbang).  In the mean time, the Reps are flying as many bills under the radar while the attention is focused on the judicial nominations.

Ah, the second term: where all the irritating trivia of Civics class come out to shine!