John Kerry never has exhibited a talent for understanding, let alone pursuing, ideas and policies that fall within the mainstream of American political thought. Like Al Gore, but not quite as extreme, Mr. Kerry almost always seems to say or do the wrong thing at the wrong time. He never did "win" the Democratic nomination in 2004 with his non-existent political talents, but was simply left standing there, holding the bag, when Howard Dean imploded.

Sen. Kerry displays his incompetent political skills for America again today:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John Kerry will attempt a filibuster to block the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, CNN has learned.

Kerry, in Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum, was marshaling support in phone calls during the day, he told CNN.

Kerry said he told a group of Democratic senators Wednesday, and urged that they join him. Kerry said he has the support of fellow Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy.

Some senior Democrats told CNN they are worried that the move could backfire.

It will backfire. Polls are consistently showing that the American people do not support a filibuster of Samuel Alito. No filibuster was mounted against Clinton SCOTUS nominees Breyer and Ginsberg, even though it was well known that their judicial philosophies were not likely to yield outcomes that Republicans would view favorably. The American people correctly sensed at that time the inherent unfairness of trying to deny a president his choice of judicial nominees, as long as those nominees did not fall significantly out of the mainstream of American jurisprudence when they were nominated. Republicans did not attempt to unfairly stop the nominations of justices Ginsberg and Breyer, and Democrats should not attempt the same with Alito.

Reasonable Democrats in the Senate, as referenced in the above article, understand that the Kerry course would be diastrous. If they attempted to deny Alito an unfair vote on the Senate floor then they would fail. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is already on record as saying she would not support such a move. A sufficient number of Republicans from the Gang of 14 have indicated that they would not support a move, leading almost certainly to the "constitutional option," where a change in Senate rules would allow the cessation of Mr. Kerry's filibuster with a simple majority. Sen. Majority Bill Frist has stated flatly and unambigously that there will be no filibuster of Alito.

A failed filibuster would also greatly weaken Senate Democrats, the Constitutional option further limiting their ability to mount any kind of sustained challenge to all judicial nominees in the future.

Mr. Kerry, unless he is completely unaware of all of these details (not an impossibility), most certainly knows all of this, which makes this action even more a bizarre one.

Samuel Alito is one of the most outstanding nominees for the high court to come before the Senate in a long, long time. He deserves a straight up or down vote on his confirmation, and any Democratic party attempt to deny him such a vote will be stopped in its tracks, as it should be.