The liberal as the "duped" and "hoodwinked" victim

Sen. Schumer just gave a speech (full text) which indicates that he thinks his fellow Democratic senators were "duped" and "hoodwinked" by the "charm of nominee Roberts and the erudition of nominee Alito" when they should have voted their "fears" which "were more than justified from the ultra-conservative records of these two men."

Separately, Sen. Edwards claims to be a victim of a conspiracy:

This stuff's not an accident. Nobody in this room should think this is an accident. You know, I'm out there speaking up for universal healthcare, ending this war in Iraq, speaking up for the poor. They want to shut me up. That's what this is about. "Let's distract from people who don't have health care coverage. Let's distract from people who can't feed their children.... Let's talk about this silly frivolous nothing stuff so that America won't pay attention."

They will never silence me. Never. If we don't stand up to these people, if we don't fight em, if we don't beat them, they're going to continue to control this country. They're going to control the media. They're going to control what's being said . They do not want to hear us talking about health care for everybody. [emphasis added]

This sounds like paranoia to me but apparently it appealed to his audience. (Yes, Sen. Edwards has received some adverse publicity about $1,200 haircuts but that is just freedom of speech in action, not an attempt to suppress speech.)