The New York Sun reports that the "grass-roots" efforts by PFAW and Alliance for Justice to generate a groundswell of opposition to the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court has so far failed miserably. A nationwide 'educational' tour has generated almost no interest at all, and on-line petitions have only received 55,000 endorsements instead of the targeted million or more:

A grass roots effort aimed at fueling opposition to Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito has become a target of mockery for the nominee's conservative allies instead - the latest skirmish in an ongoing turf battle among interest groups almost four weeks ahead of the confirmation hearing.

Earlier this month, the liberal activist group Alliance for Justice kicked off a nationwide tour against Judge Alito in which members travel from town to town distributing literature and organizing events against the nominee. Starting in Colorado, the so-called "Rolling Justice" tour stopped in 26 cities in nine days.

But, according to conservative activists, the tour is a disaster. They point to a companion Web site, www.rollingjustice.org, where supporters can follow the tour and post comments online: After more than a week of postings from a tour leader, the site has generated one response, from a woman named "Kendra Sue," who wrote: "Oh my goodness. You are really braving the cold for a good cause. Keep up the good work ..."

The executive director of the Committee for Justice, a key White House ally in the confirmation process, Sean Rushton, said photos on the Rolling Justice Web site suggest weak attendance and a lack of press attention. Of the photos on the site, the largest group pictured is sitting at a restaurant table. A link inviting visitors to get involved leads back to the main Rolling Justice page.

The hearings for Alito begin in less than four weeks. So far, as Brian McGuire notes, the two well-funded leftist activist groups have yet to buy any major ad time for their attacks on Alito. Christmas season undoubtedly has something to do with that; not too many people will focus on poltical campaigns, especially on something this esoteric. However, it also seems to show exactly how far outside the mainstream PFAW and AFJ have placed themselves in their incessant politicization of the appellate courts. Just as with the Roberts nomination, they cannot appear to catch fire with their torch procession against Bush nominees.

Why? Perhaps they simply don't understand that a majority of people voted for George Bush in large part because we wanted nominees like Samuel Alito and not Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Both PFAW and AFJ have acted as though the election was some sort of cultural irrelevancy or abnormality, and both pretend that unfettered access to abortion on demand with no restrictions of any kind represents the mainstream position of Americans. It doesn't., and the self-delusion of the Left has once again led to its humiliation.

On the other hand, with the low turnout, the choice of restaurants for photo ops becomes much wider. That's at least a small consolation.

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