[1Old Pro]

The likelihood of a vacancy has given rise to a grim joke among conservatives: How do you say ''Souter'' in Spanish? ''Gonzales.''

If Bush gets another Scalia on the Supreme Court I'll forgive the complcency on the rest of the stuff George Will mentions.

Keep your eye on the prize....conservative judicial appointments. If Bush fails here then I'll agree that he let down conservatism.

[My2Cents]

I agree with you 100%. Personally, my biggest priority in supporting Bush is to remake the judiciary, and the Supreme Court, with solid conservative judges. I've been impressed with his judicial nominations, and the Democrats' obstruction of many of them indicate how solid Bush's nominees have been, and how important Bush's nominations are. If he fails to reform the philosophy of the judiciary, he's failed as a President. To me, everything else is secondary (except, perhaps, success in the war on terror).