Failure is hard to face. And right now with the Alito confirmation all but over with the vote tomorrow, the liberal base is faced with the harsh reality.

It was all for nothing.

For example, Meteor Blades says ‘Never Surrendor’ – but why continue if you are never going to win?

Even though we knew it was a dicey proposition from the get-go, many of us are righteously furious about the cloture vote, especially furious that so many of the Democrats who crossed the line couldn’t even fall back on the rationalization that their “aye” was essential in order to survive politically in a swing or red state.

I’m not naming names. The list is up for all to see. And each one on that list has just made my life more difficult. Because every time I walk a precinct or call somebody for a financial contribution this election year, I’m going to run into a lot more “Screw the Democrats. They don’t stand up for me.” And my only reply will have to be a sheepish, we have to elect more Democrats so those unwilling to stand up for you don’t weigh as heavily on the party.

Meteor, you have no idea how bad it is. The DNC is also out of money. Kos chimes in sifting the ashes for something positive

We lost the cloture vote, but that was — despite some of your best wishes — a pre-ordained conclusion. But that doesn’t mean we lost on the bigger picture.

What you guys accomplished the last week was amazing — the outpouring of emails, letters, faxes, and phone calls was unprecedented for the netroots and particularly surprising given how weak our issue groups organized against Alito. We should’ve played a supporting role to strong efforts by NARAL, People for the American Way, and others. Instead, we ended up being pretty much the entire effort.

Markos, let me tell you something about human nature. No one wastes precious time with lost causes and people who cannot get results. Enjoy your time at the pinnacle of the liberal netfest. You will have a place in history as someone who was able to harness a new technology, and yet fail to turn that into something lasting.

The readers aren’t buying this because they are walking away tired and empty handed -again.

I can’t believe that only 25 Democrats voted for the filibuster. Whats going on?

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A bunch of liars the lot of them.

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I am shocked and horrified that the Senate Democrats failed to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court despite the fact that there are more than enough Democrats in the Senate to accomplish the task.

They should be ashamed of themselves. Every Senator who voted against the Alito filibuster violated his or her oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. There is no excuse for this dishonorable and unpatriotic behavior.

It also represents a failure of the Democratic Party as institution. The Democratic Party constantly pays lip-service to its core constituencies while caving to the Religious Right and corporate donors. Symbolic votes by some Democrats against Alito are not enough. The party as an institution has an inescapable patriotic duty to do everything in its power to block dishonest and dangerous extremists like Alito from the US Supreme Court.

How many times will the Democratic Party betray me as a gay man, an atheist, a liberal, and an American? How many times will so many Democrats kick me in the teeth and then expect me to say “thank you” and write them checks? Do you really think I want a penny of my money to go to supporting people like Robert Byrd who embraced many of the KKK’s core values (e.g. racism, sexism, homophobia, and Christian supremacy) by voting to confirm Alito?

Instead, I will give money to Green Party candidates who are running against Senators who did not vote for the Alito filibuster.

Please take me off of your mailing list.

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They don’t care if you are gay or atheist – or straight or christian for that matter.

All they really care about is how much money you send them or how much influence you have.

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Get more Democrats elected? To what end? If we get more like the 19 who voted for cloture, what has been accomplished?

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TODAY WAS THE REAL VOTE ON ALITO. Everyone knows tomorrows vote is just symbolic. There’s only one vote where there is a chance to stop him from being on the court, AND THIS WAS IT.

Every Democrat who votes NO tomorrow after voting YES today on cloture is a lying deceiving fraud. They are going to cast a symbolic vote NO after having voted to put Alito on the court in the one vote that counts.

Then they’ll later undoubtable try to claim they opposed Alito. When they do so, they need to be greeted with shouts of “LIAR” and “FRAUD!”

Never promise to deliver something, many times in a row, and end up failing. Because people will just dump you. Look for the Democrat civil war to heat up. There is no place for the far left to put their energies anymore, except in taking over the Democrat party.

Look, I am a long time Democrat, but I’ve got to say, I’m freaking furious over this. 17 of our own abandoning us? We only end up with Twenty freakin’ Five no votes on cloture? And here’s the deal, these people supposedly got elected for what they believe in, yet they’re holding back their votes for what they believe in because they’re afraid of not getting re-elected? Isn’t that antithetical to what they were put there to do in the first place? I got to say, the “I’m done” thing has ran through my head so many times it’s not even funny. Here’s the conclusion I’ve come to: THEY’RE DONE!!! All the Liebermann, Biden, etc., not there when we need them HAVE SIMPLY GOT TO GO. EVERY ONE OF THESE FOOLS MUST BE CHALLENGED IN A PRIMARY NEXT TIME AROUND!!! I’m not leaving the Democratic Party, simply because they (the fair weather Dems in the Senate) did.