So it's John Roberts. All the stations have expert commentary on his personality, his abilities, his competence, his integrity, and his judicial leanings. Most people are predicting, or at least hoping for, a gentlemanly and fair evaluation of the candidate from the Senate. Get real! None of the above matters at all. The battle lines are already drawn and far too many Democrats see this as a matter of their party's survival.
There is very little chance for Roberts to get a fair hearing. Back in Bush's first term it might have been possible, and indeed he exploited divisions among the Democrats masterfully, but after three successive electoral defeats, after the failure of assault after assult -- on Bush himself, on Ashcroft, on the war, on the conduct of the war, on John Bolton, on Karl Rove, etc., etc., etc., it is clear that the Democrats, in sheer desperation, are determined to make a stand here and fight to the last breath.
The Plame Blame Game, far more than anything we can know about Judge Roberts, tells us what the nominee is in store for. Right now substance is completely irrelevant. What matters right now is the fact that the Democrats feel that their survival as a party is at stake -- they must fight and fight and fight, or they shall die.
I feel sorry for Judge Roberts.
Now is the time for the "Gang of Fourteen" to step up to the plate. Will they? Stay tuned.
Instapundit is blogging this with lots of links -- here.
The Volokh Conspirators are here. They note that Tradesports predicted Roberts.
Kos has links to all the anti-Roberts stuff put together by activist groups here. He claims Bush rushed the nomination to divert attention from Rove. Interesting..., if only as an expression of Bizarroworld thought processes.
And from the right -- Paul over at Powerline notes that the "Roberts is just a distraction from Rove" idea is being circulated at MSNBC by Olberman and Milbank. Read him here.
And, of course, NRO's "Bench Memos" is all over this. [here]
No comments:
Post a Comment