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Republican Senate strategists believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is the only possible Bush nominee to replace O'Connor who would not face a filibuster.

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This would only be fair for the Democrats to do. After all, the Republicans raised hell in opposing both Ginsburg and Breyer; they ran millions of dollars of attack ads against them; they dug in their garbage to find dirt against them, and the media were brutal in their treatment of Clinton's nominees.

Oh wait..I'm sorry..those are things the Democrats always do against Republican nominees.

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Boy do we have short memories. While the Republicans ultimately did not block either Ginsberg or Breyer ... they threw hurdles up to just about every other judicial nominee presented by President Clinton, including engaging in, get this, a filibuster:

"In truth, no one should understand the legitimacy of judicial filibusters better than Bill Frist. On March 9, 2000, Frist participated in a filibuster of Richard Paez, President Clinton's nominee to the Ninth Circuit. When confronted about his vote late last year, Frist claimed he filibustered Paez for "scheduling" purposes. Not true. A press release by former Senator Bob Smith titled "Smith Leads Effort to Block Activist Judicial Nominees" plainly states that the intent of the filibuster was to "block" the Paez nomination."

(Link to full article )