Posted on 09/24/2005 8:35:24 AM PDT by frankjr
...
Bush would really like to name Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to the Sandra Day O’Connor vacancy, but the events of the last few weeks have conspired against Gonzales. With Bush’s approval rating at 40 percent, he can’t afford to alienate his base of social conservatives. Bush promised them another Scalia or Thomas, unapologetic “originalists” who don’t invite a guessing game about where they stand on Roe. A strategist who has worked with conservative groups says, “If he named Gonzales, it would be the equivalent of his father reneging on taxes. It would be an event of that magnitude. He’d be down in the 30s [in approval polls].”
A source close to the White House says there is a “pretty vigorous internal debate” over whom to nominate, and Gonzales has strong supporters, notably Karl Rove and Bush. Knowing Gonzales would be a lightning rod for a really harsh debate, Rove’s attitude is “so be it.” He’s tired of his boss getting kicked around in the media, and doesn’t shy away from a good fight. But Bush is spoiled by the Roberts nomination and doesn’t relish taking on both the right of his party and the left at a time when he’s at such a low point politically. “Find me another Roberts,” he has instructed aides, who are combing the country for a conservative woman jurist who can pass muster with the right and not overly antagonize Senate Democrats. “It will be a new name,” this source promises—although Priscilla Owen, named to the Fifth Circuit this spring as part of the bipartisan compromise, is still in the running.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Not quite. You left the most annoying part in:
"Eleanor Clift"
I like Miguel Estrada.
This makes no sense. He isn't up for reelection, Cheney isn't going to run for the top job...what does Bush lose by 'alienating' his 'base' of social conservatives?
Wow. Maybe reality is setting in.
Oh yeah...like Eleanor Clift has real inside sources in the Bush White House, and like that rag, Newsweek, is good for anything more than lining the bird's cage.
Does anyone think President Bush and his leak proof White house would leak such garbage to Eleanor Clift? Clift lies in her columns and anyone with a brain can see it.
The press believes that Bush is going to do what he always does with campaign promises.. He tries his best to keep them. Eleanor wants us to believe that bush would not keep his word if his approval ratings were better.
Eleanor Lies .. She intentionally lies. However Eleanor is so stupid that she believes that we don't know it.
Interesting line about Roberts.
"It wouldn’t be the first time a Supreme Court justice stepped down to run for president."
The senate. I run the GOTV effort in a large mountain state county for the R's. We will have a huge dropoff in volunteers in 2006 if W nominates Gonzalez. It'll be ugly.
I'm sure Gonzales is a really nice guy, and a great pal of GW and Karl, but as I've said many times to my colleagues; as true-believers, we're not in this to advance nice people and our friends. We're in this to advance the conservative cause. I will fight to the mat any day, for a cranky, disagreeable person who is a diehard conservative over a really nice, fun person or good friends who hold moderate views. There is too much at stake here. There are plenty of ways he can honor his old friend Gonzales without placing his moderate ideology at the cutting edge of the battle for the future of Western Civilization.
Crappy analysis by a political hack.
Bush is not running for anything. Congress's approval rating is ten point less than his. Roberts was a wonderful pick. He parties with senators, they accepted him as one of the group.
I wonder who Bush will pick next...it'll be fun!
DK
> ... like that rag, Newsweek, is good for anything more
> than lining the bird's cage.
Not even that.
Claycoat paper isn't that absorbent.
Well I'll be! The annoy b*tch has got it right!
(broken clock is right twice a day alert.)
Maybe Barney, Bush's dog told her this. Newsweak is so bad that the doctor's offices in my area won't stock them because nobody reads it.
True.
Eleanor Clift? Newsweek? LOL Wow, they are legendary for their inside track to the Bush White House. (Speaking of REALITY...)
" Not quite. You left the most annoying part in:
"Eleanor Clift""
LOL. I hestiated posting, but since I stopped watching "McLaughlin group" several years ago, she doesn't annoy me quite as much. Out of sight...
Political capital. It's indispensable for pursuing policy goals. Without it, he immediately becomes a lame-duck for the rest of his Presidency.
Or does this mean another stealth maybe.
This article accurately represents the utter lack of principles of Bush and the Republican party. If a promise is to be kept and an open originalist named, it will only be done due with tremendous pressure from the base.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.