The editorial in the New York Times today, advocating a filibuster against Samuel Alito even though it acknowledges said filibuster would fail, is a watershed moment. Of course the Times editorial page has positioned itself firmly on the Left, and of course it has become an intellectual embarrassment ever since Gail Collins became its editor (Collins is quite possibly the dumbest person ever to run a major editorial page in this country). But its decision yesterday to take an editorial position that could have been a dailykos diary entry — the editorial is titled “Spineless Senators,” to give you a sense of its tone — should thrill all of us who think America will be better off with a less influential New York Times. How can it stand as the spokesman of the Establishment when it is expressly advocating quixotic and pointless obstructionism?