Voting Yes on Roberts

The link takes you to a Kos diary. the diary argues for Democrats in the Senate to vote yes for Roberts as a strategy. I really believe that folks arguing for this option have their hearts in the right place and are trying to come up with the best options for improving the status of the Democratic Party. However, I really don't understand this argument. As things stand I see no value for Democrats to "seem reasonable". All the polling data and everything else I can find out about the mood of the country indicate that people:

Think that George Bush is taking the country in the wrong direction.

Want to see the Democrats stand up to Bush and challenge him.

Are turning away from the Republicans but

Not yet turning toward the Democrats.

All this leads me to believe that the best thing for the Democrats to do is to take a level headed principled stand against John Roberts.

I'm not talking about filibuster here. I accept that the Democrats should not appear to be stopping the functioning of the courts. However, whether the Democrats vote for or against Roberts will have no affect at all on the operation of the Government. Furthermore, the Democrats could make clear that if the Republicans want the votes of Democrats then the Republicans will have to work with Democrats.

I agree that having Roberts on the court will not be disastrous, but it just seems that although the country would like to have a clear alternative to Bush and the Republicans the Democrats have one again taken the opportunity to tack as close to George Bush as they can. It just seems to be the wrong strategy.

Also, much of the talk about picking our battles sends, I think, exactly the wrong message. Everyone knows that the Democrats don't want John Roberts to be Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The fact that we won't make a clear statement to that effect does not make it any less of a defeat for us. Rather we appear to be completely cowed.