The Theocrats get their man

Alito is tabbed to be the next nominee for the Supreme Court by Bush.

How extreme is he?

"Abortion-rights advocates on the left are focusing on Alito's vote to uphold the legal requirement that an adult woman must notify her husband prior to getting an abortion."

Pretty much says it all right there.

His views on church-state seperation are equally 13th century.

So, what happens next? The senate Democrats will line up to oppose Alito (as they should), the Senate Republicans will line up to endorse him, and the result will end up in a fillibuster - after which, Frist et al., will try to go for the nuclear option (reducing the vote total needed to stop a fillibuster).

At the end this is the 'culture clash' that the GOP craves - will re-energize the GOP? Temporarily, but they could still lose the battle, and worse, it could spill over into the next primary season and affect some of the races negatively for them. If that happens another split of the GOP on a supreme court nominee might permanently fracture the party.