On cue, as Atrios notes, here's Rick Santorum calling Judge Whittemore's ruling "judicial tyranny." Hate to say I told you so.

Yesterday I mentioned the Elian case as a precedent for Republicans suffering no consequences despite being very much on the wrong side of public opinion (while Democrats, or at least Al Gore, did suffer even though the public disagreed with the Republicans). I could have also mentioned the Clinton impeachment (losing a few GOP seats in '98 was more than made up for by Gore's inability to coast into the White House on peace and prosperity) or no-brainer gun issues like the assault-weapons ban and closing the gun-show loophole. In each case the public has been on the side of the Democrats, but no harm has come to the GOP.

That's why, alas, I don't think the Republicans are overreaching. We've seen this movie before: Republicans rant, Democrats divide (with a few Dems timidly objecting), and the status quo doesn't change.