[Vicomte13]

Kristol's right.

Nominate anybody who's come out for Roe to ANY Supreme Court vacancy, and the Republican majority is over.

[Ron in Acreage]

What's to say Gonzales won't change his mind on abortion? Souter was thought to be a conservative when Bush 1 nominated him and look how he turned out. Maybe this was planned all along. Get him in as a pro choicer and then have W twist his arm into voting pro life. It could happen.

[Republican Red]

Kristol also thought John McCain was a better choice for President in 2000.

[hflynn]

Kristol claims that Rehnquist will retire this week, and that Bush operatives are already clearing the way to nominate Alberto Gonzales for new Chief Justice.

William Kristol said that a Gonzales appointment, or any moderate appointment, would be "incredibly demoralizing" and "disastrous" for George W. Bush, because it would completely alienate his conservative base, and cause a terrible fracture in the Republican Party.

Sounds like Kristol was imitating John Kerry and justed wanted to play with Juan and CeCe.

[Just A Nobody]

Why is it sooooo difficult for everyone to put the word PRESIDENT before Bush????

The word "panelists" is inserted in front of talking heads, and multi-word titles before the demonRATS, but rarely PRESIDENT, in front of PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH.

This bugs me. /rant

[Paloma_55]

As a Christian conservative, I think we must be cautious to attack Gonzales.

Bush is the president. He has done many things that I do not agree with, but not nearly as many as his predecessor.

If we beat up Gonzales publically, we might just end up getting two softies for the USSC instead of one. I say let the President make his pick, and provide him with a good replacement for Rehnquist. Then, we can all pray that one of the liberals on the court retires and we have a change to replace them with a conservative.

Personally, I think that Roe V Wade is not going to be corrected by the USSC regardless of how many judges we can get in during Bush's term. It will take a few more judges to fix that broken situation.

[DouglasKC]

I almost believe that Gonzales may be a stealth candidate groomed by Bush just for the Supreme Court. Appear moderate, but really judge as a conservative.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Here we go again, more mindless speculation. Why would Bush nominate Gonzalez for SCOTUS after he just been confirmed to be AG?

Kristol needs a vacation.

[SteveH]

1. Gonzalez is damaged goods with his terrorism opinion, at least as far as the SC goes.

2. Democrats will never play nice if anyone tries to compromise with them.

3. After campaign finance reform, one would think GWB would learn from his experiences.

[ken21]

let the blood bath begin!

the democrat beaches will go absolutely hysterical,

and joining them will be the purists on this forum who will exhibit their terrible 2's

and cry they're voting for hillary.

"so, there, if bush doesn't do what i say, i'm going to destroy his party".(/s)

[beckaz]

I don't buy Gonzo for CHIEF Justice.

HOWEVER, should it happen, even a SMALL chance of "Scalia resigns", should scare the crap out of all us.

[umgud]

As evidenced by FR polls, there will be some diagreement amongst conservatives no matter who Bush nominates. But........... if Bush nominates anybody the dems find acceptable, I will be disapointed greatly. So, my OK goes to anybody the dems would fight over.

[savedbygrace]

The 8th Circuit Nebraska PBA decision this past Friday was decided by a Bush 41 pick, a Reagan pick, and a Clinton pick. All three voted to strike down the PBA ban law.

FWIW. (And I am convinced it's closely related to the discussion on this thread.)

[conservativecorner]

Not to mention the fact that for 6 years W has promised conservatives a strict Constitutionalist when any vacancies opened up. Gonzales would be a double cross from a President who I admire much, but who would drop in stature among the base. I'm hoping that Kristol is dead wrong on this information otherwise I'm done with the Republican Party.

[billnaz]

I understand that Gonzales is at best lukewarm on gun rights and the Second Amendment. That's reason enough for me to oppose him.

[Archon of the East]

Any Justice's "position" on abortion "should be" irrelevant. An originalist or strict constructionist would leave these issues to the states and not make law, that is what I am fighting for, the judiciary to it's job not the job of congress.

[KC_Conspirator]

This would effectively leave the current "balance of the court" intact.

But there is no "balance" on the court. Its unbalanced in accordance with elections, which have shown the GOP winning the past effing 11 years.

The GOP base should feel stabbed in the back.

[TAdams8591]

If Billy Kristol is right, this will be disasterous for Conservatives and the Republican party.

The time for Conservatives to speak out is NOW, before the damage is done. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

[Right_in_Virginia]

I'm afraid if this is true about Gonzales (big "if"), Scalia will be the next resignation.

[stevem]

Kristol doesn't know any more about what Bush will do than I do. I don't think he will nominate anyone who supports past justices writing laws. Normally a president becomes pretty lame in the last year of his second term. If Bush nominates a judicial law writer, he will start limping immediately.

His pattern has been quite liberal on domestic issues. He has been conservative on foreign policy, and he has talked quite conservatively regarding the courts. He has also appointed sone judges that are supportable for lower courts.