In case you missed it, President Bush issued another recess appointment to the federal appeals court on Friday. As he did a few weeks ago in the case Charles Pickering (who had been filibustered by Senate Democrats for nearly three years), Bush pulled a procedural end-around to place Alabama attorney general Bill Pryor on the bench without Senate approval after nearly a year of inaction on the Senate's part.

When the Pickering appointment was announced, I said that after three years of this nonsense Bush needs to make many more of these appointments to show the obstructionists in the Senate that he means business. This is another positive step in that direction.

I have mixed feelings at best on Pryor. He blew it bigtime in the Roy Moore case. But he also had the guts, when asked by Chuck Schumer in front of the Senate judiciary committee if he still thinks Roe v. Wade is "the worst abomination in the history of constitutional law," to reply, "I do."

Mixed feelings aside, these hardball maneuvers are exactly what are needed to show these clowns that the president means business. Predictably, they were in full-scale apoplexy over the weekend. According to CNN:

The move infuriated Democrats, who now may be even less likely to cooperate with the White House on getting judicial nominees through the closely divided Senate in an election year.

"Regularly circumventing the advise and consent process is not the way to change the tone in Washington," Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said.

Oh, right. Now the Democrats will be less cooperative on judicial nominees. Let's see. Thus far, their "cooperation" has been exacly "zero." It will be interesting to see how they plan to subtract from that.

And by the way. Stick that tone in your ear, Senator Schumer. Multiple, simultaneous filibusters are not a circumvention of the advise and consent process? We've seen what "improved tone" will get us. The president needs to keep going and going on this. The more ultra-conservative the nominees, the better. A few more of these and you will see nothing but cooperation from Senate Democrats, who at that point will try anything to moderate the flow of far right judges by having a voice in the process.