Chris Bowers wants "Edjamacation" - why did the blogosphere ignore his liveblogging about Alito from the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, and then suddenly spring into action to stop Alito on January 25? Here's why:

1. Everyone knew the Senate hearings would be a complete waste of time because Alito would lie through his teeth. That has been the case with every Congressional hearing since Bush stole the White House, most recently with John Roberts and Alberto Gonzales. There was no point going to Washington for the hearings, watching them on C-SPAN, or even reading about them in the blogs.
2. Unbeknownst to the circle-jerk blogs, there was a tremendous amount of non-blog grassroots organizing going on led by email-focused groups like People for the American Way, NOW, NARAL, the Alliance for Justice, Democrats.com, Working Assets, USAlone.net, etc. These email lists generated hundreds of thousands of petitions, emails, faxes, and phone calls, and they operated phone banks in major cities to do even more.
3. The only thing that mattered - ever - was whether 41 Democrats would filibuster. And we had no idea until January 25, when I reported Harry Reid told progressive lobbyists that 8 of the 44 (+1) Democrats would not support a filibuster - but refused to identify them by name. I sounded the alarm that we need to identify the "Alito-8" and emailed progressive bloggers and activists, who responded with energy and determination.
4. A few hours later, I broke the news that John Kerry would lead a filibuster, regardless of whether he had 41 votes. Suddenly we went from the possibility of a filibuster to the reality, and the level of netroots activism increased 100-fold.
5. Meanwhile, the biggest progressive blogs were mostly asleep, because they believed the media spin that Democrats couldn't possibly stop Alito. So I chided them until they got on board.
6. I learned a crucial lesson from Josh Marshall about the value of assigning Senators to make-believe "caucuses," which is a great way to embarrass Senators who are doing the wrong thing.
7. The collective efforts of the netroots began to pay off immediately, as Dianne Feinstein switched from anti-filibuster to pro-filibuster. We knew we were on a roll, and we were energized.
8. All throughout the crucial weekend, I gathered every bit of useful information and put it at the very top of Democrats.com where everyone could find it. Naturally the most useful information came from the netroots, who spoke directly with Senate aides and reported on their conversations.
9. As the debate began on Monday, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry spoke passionately about the need to stop Alito. They were joined by undecided Senators like Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez. Victory seemed possible.
10. When the voting began, we quickly realized we had been betrayed. But we knew it was not for lack of effort on our part, but rather because 19 Democratic Senators simply do not care what we think, no matter how passionate and numerous we are.