The Democratic Party is failing to persuasively explain why the Senate shouldn't even consider Amy Coney Barrett, and it's failing to make a persuasive case against Barrett herself. Republicans are clearly winning this battle. Democrats are blowing it. https://morningconsult.com/2020/10/07/amy-coney-barrett-supreme-court-polling/

Two weeks ago, I was told that Senate Democrats would not discuss court expansion because they preferred to fight Barrett's confirmation first. But they're barely doing that. And now they're poised to blow the hearings. Democrats' approach to Barrett has been a complete disaster.

Here's the thing: The Democratic base is mad. They're scared of Barrett. They're still mourning RBG. They're furious about Garland. And they're outraged by McConnell's rank hypocrisy.

Senate Democrats have failed to channel this anger into anything productive. It's appalling.

The political malpractice we are seeing among Senate Democrats right now is one of the greatest gifts the party has ever given to the GOP. They aren't fighting Barrett. They've privately given up. They're just tweeting resistance bait. ActBlue donations aren't going to stop this.

In response to @marty_lederman and others: A big problem here is that Democrats haven't figured out how to lose bitter battles over the Supreme Court and then turn those losses into a subsequent victory by mobilizing the grievance they generate. The GOP has perfected this.

Democrats assume that there's no point in fierce engagement unless you can "win." If you assume that premise, then sure, Dems probably can't "win" right now. But the whole point is to lose in a way that sets up the next battle. And you don't do that by going through the motions.

This is what surrender looks like. Why are @SenFeinstein, @SenatorLeahy, @SenatorDurbin, @SenWhitehouse, @amyklobuchar, @ChrisCoons, and @CoryBooker legitimizing this confirmation process? Why are they letting Barrett use them to launder her reputation? https://twitter.com/seungminkim/status/1313952203590246409

When Obama nominated Merrick Garland, a bunch of Republican senators refused to meet with him.

Democratic senators don't even have the backbone or discipline to *decline Amy Coney Barrett's phone calls.* It's like they've completely given up. They have failed their voters.