“Grow Your Own”

Nancy Goldstein’s newest column in PageOneQ (formerly RawStoryQ) is fantastic. She talks about feeling betrayed by the nuclear option compromise, the GOP’s intricate network of back-patting that elevates people like Priscilla Owen to her current position, and what the Dems can learn from them. It really highlights why grassroots building is important, and even though there’s the old joke about how organizing the Left is as easy as herding cats, the Big Brass Alliance shows that we are quite capable of coming together. What the Left lacks is not willingness to work hard, but balls. Go read it, and with the following, from Salon’s War Room, in mind:

We've been saying that the first big test of the nuclear option-averting agreement by John McCain's "Gang of 14" would come as soon as Chief Justice William Rehnquist announces his resignation and George W. Bush nominates a replacement. But now it seems that it could come even sooner than that.

According to this morning's Washington Post, the White House is preparing to send several dozen new lower court nominees up to the Senate any day now. Officials "familiar with the process" tell the Post that the judges Bush will nominate soon are a lot like the ones he's nominated before.

And although the "Gang of 14" agreement called on Bush to consult with senators on both sides of the aisle before making future nominations, Senate Democrats tell the Post that they haven't heard anything from the White House about the new nominees. As we noted earlier this week, they probably shouldn't bother waiting by their phones.

Seriously—it’s time to stop capitulating to the GOP. Enough.