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For whatever else Arlen Specter has done, he deserves defeat, but I think he did us all a favor in defeating the Bork nomination:

Has anyone here read the numerous editorials authored by Bork over the last few years?
His opinions are more than just a little scary.

Bork lost 42-58. It wasn't that close. I think Deconcini and others would have voted against him anyway. In 1987 the 'Rats had taken over the Senate, and Iran-Contra was starting to hurt. It wasn't a good time to get Bork through. At the time I remember some critics saying Reagan should have appointed Bork earlier, when he had the Senate, and Scalia in 1987. But I can't fault Reagan for that; Nino was simply better than Bork.

Our problem hasn't been the Justices we can't get through, but the ones we did. How about the following list -- match the bad nomination to the President: Blackmun, O'Connor, Souter, Warren, Stevens. Hint: None were nominated by 'Rats. All were disasters. The worst of the lot IMHO is Sandra Dee O'Connor, who now thinks we should cite European Courts in SCOTUS decisions. She has a way to go to rise to the level of mediocrity.

We need ruthless nominations like FDR's first - Senator Black, a liberal New Deal Deep South Big Government activist; a guy the Southern Senators hated but had to confirm. Too bad he turned out to be a Klansman, but he got FDR's view of the Federal Government approved. We need equally powerful nominees on our side.