My abdomen cramped up when I heard Mr. Kristol's prediction. It will be a horrific disappointment if he nominates Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. I, like hundreds of thousands of other Bush/Cheney 2004 volunteers, was primarily motivated by the President's promise to nominate justices who think that the constitution "means what it says". Atty. Gen. Gonzalez's rulings on a constitutional right to abortion and the registration of private firearm ownership demonstrates that he instead believes that the "
Constitution Is What the Supreme Court Says." I would view his nomination as a betrayal, as would tens of millions of other republican voters who took the president at his word. I fear the consequences of this hypothetical unfaithfulness would hurt all Republican candidates long after 2006.
I don't think that there is anything I can do to influence this decision, however. The choice of nominees is now the President's decision alone and he has publicly asked conservatives to withhold comment. I still trust that the President will keep his word, and I am hopeful that next month we will all be chuckling at what was our completely unwarranted doubt in the President's character.