The Wrong Battle (Newsweak's Clift's "close to WH Source" info on O'Conner replacement)

Newsweek ^ | 9/23/05 | Eleanor Clift

[frankjr]

Annoying parts of her article left out.

[Phsstpok]

Annoying parts of her article left out.

Not quite. You left the most annoying part in:

"Eleanor Clift"

[syriacus]

I like Miguel Estrada.

[Carling]

With Bush’s approval rating at 40 percent, he can’t afford to alienate his base of social conservatives.

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?

[Ol' Sparky]

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].”

Wow. Maybe reality is setting in.

[txrangerette]

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.

[Common Tator]

How the heck would Eleanor Cliff know anything about what President Bush wants to do?

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.

[gondramB]

Interesting line about Roberts.

"It wouldn’t be the first time a Supreme Court justice stepped down to run for president."

[ModelBreaker]

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?

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.

[ElkGroveDan]

Gonzales has strong supporters, notably Karl Rove and Bush.

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.

[Dark Knight]

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

[Boundless]

> ... like that rag, Newsweek, is good for anything more
> than lining the bird's cage.

Not even that.
Claycoat paper isn't that absorbent.

[F16Fighter]

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.

Well I'll be! The annoy b*tch has got it right!

(broken clock is right twice a day alert.)

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

A source close to the White House

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.

[Last Dakotan]

“If he named Gonzales, it would be the equivalent of his father reneging on taxes."

True.

[txrangerette]

Eleanor Clift? Newsweek? LOL Wow, they are legendary for their inside track to the Bush White House. (Speaking of REALITY...)

[frankjr]

" 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...

[papertyger]

...what does Bush lose by 'alienating' his 'base' of social conservatives?

Political capital. It's indispensable for pursuing policy goals. Without it, he immediately becomes a lame-duck for the rest of his Presidency.

[msnimje]

Eleanor Clift is an idiot and I do not believe she "has sources inside the White House."
Nor do I believe, that the President does not know EXACTLY who he is going to nominate and has for a long time.
The idea of filing Supreme Court seats is not a new one to Bush Co.

[Ol' Sparky]

“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.

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.