You said..."This deal has Gonzalez nomination written all over it. Bush will come up with the excuse that he is the only nominee that Harry Reid will let through. Bush will further the damage his dad has done by nominating Souter."
I find it 'interesting' that Bush is now conspicuously absent from this fight. Bush could IMO effectively undermine this moderate power broker block of senators...if he chose to....using the bully pulpit....combined with a little righteous anger. He could further hurt these senators among the party base...as if they aren't damaged goods already.
Why wont he?
Polls have consistently shown us that Bush is perceived favorably by many in his personal qualities...even among moderate democrats. He won the election with sufficient plurality to claim a mandate. If you are going to spend political capital...why not for an important fight...CONSERVATIVE judicial appointees.
Is Bush's political capital to be spent on moderates...or on conservatives?
Time will tell what the game plan is.....
Read the thread started last night that got the whole thing started. My conjecture is the following: Bush doesn't really care about his nominees. He will nominate them and if they get confirmed, fine. But, he wouldn't waste any political capital on them. He doesn't really care about the courts or the Constitution, as his reckless spending has shown. He neutralizes the conservatives by nominating them, but wouldn't really lift a finger to confirm them. The conservatives in the meantime get themselves worked up in righteous anger against the Democrats. I think he sort of miscalculated that this will turn into a wrath against his own party members, but I am sure Karl Rove has some contingency plan worked out. In my opinion, Bush doesn't care about his nominees or not care enough to spend any capital on them. All of that is reserved to get a true RINO in the bench so Souter can have a brother in the court.