GET READY FOR THE DURBIN SWOON: Actually, the swoon by the Mainstream Media over Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) is already getting into full swing, according to Andrew Stiles at the Washington Free Beacon.

Among much else worth revisiting from Durbin’s career, Stiles reminds us of the Illinois Democrat’s shameful role in the successful campaign to keep Miguel Estrada from becoming the first Hispanic on the influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Perhaps the most egregious example of Democrats blocking a qualified judicial nominee for purely partisan reasons came in 2003, when Durbin and his colleagues repeatedly filibustered the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Estrada would have been the first Hispanic judge to serve on the court. After a delay of more than two years, Estrada eventually gave up. Durbin and the Democrats declared victory,” Stiles writes.

“Weeks later, leaked memos from Durbin’s office revealed that left-wing activists groups viewed Estrada as ‘especially dangerous’ because ‘he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment.’ Also among the leaked documents were talking points prepared for Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) for a speech to his Democratic colleagues in which he urged them to oppose Estrada’s nomination. The talking points included the line ‘We can’t repeat the mistake we made with Clarence Thomas,’ referring to the first black justice to serve on the Supreme Court.”