Novak nails it again! Boy oh golly gee where would we be with the old prince of darkness right there to take credit for predicting that the sun will come up tomorrow?
Do you see why it's so ridiculous to listen to this guy about anything? He probably thinks they are still counting down in Miami.
"But it fit Democrats' Supreme Court grand strategy."
So what the heck is this "grand strategy" anyway? Other than "oppose everything Bush wants." Or is this like Kerry's "plans": we won't be allowed to know what it is until after it's over.
Now - with the next nominee whoever he/she is - they can vote as a block - claiming principles. They will be able to point to the dim votes for Roberts and say "See? We're not in lockstep but this nominee MUST not be confirmed."
... my two cents. ;-)
Well, duh. Rush said this last week. I think Novak is, unfortunately, a boob. He hasn't had anything right since 1994, and he seems to be a Bush hater. I trust very little he reports---remember he was WAY off on who the nominee was going to be for the (now) Roberts seat. He didn't even have Roberts on "his" short list.
Bob Novak has been reading FR again.
Well, OF COURSE Leahy's vote is part of the Democrats' strategy. If Novak is right when he says that Leahy's vote "surprised Bush administration officials", then Rove and Company are way, WAY overrated as political strategists. (Personally, I think Novak is being fed a line by a White House that plays its hand VERY close to the vest.)
The whole game is so transparent that it boggles the mind that so many pundits and "analysts" seem to be racking their brains trying to figure out what the Democrats' strategy is. Gimme a break! - - the Democrats stayed mostly civil with Roberts only so they can appear to be righteously indignant when they freak out about the next nominee (whoever the nominee is - - it really doesn't matter). The Democrats' "strategy" could not possibly be more obvious.
The Democrats cornered themselves when they signed onto the amazing "Gang of Fourteen" deal and their only loophole lies in the "extraordinary circumstances" clause. The Democrats can successfully exercise that clause ONLY if they can mobilize their allies in the liberal newsrooms to help them convince the clueless rabble that, despite what the Republicans are claiming about the Democrats breaking their promise not to filibuster, the "extraordinary circumstances" threshhold has "clearly been breached with this nominee who is nothing less than a right-wing extremist".
So when it is time to choose the next nominee Bush may as well go for it, big time, with a selection along the line of Janice Rogers Brown. Let the Democrats go bonkers and try to pressure five of the seven Democrat members of the "Gang of Fourteen" to break their promise and join them in a filibuster, and then let the Republicans go nuclear. Let's just be done with it. The Supreme Court is simply too important to give away so much as an inch.
We may be looking at the last best chance we will ever have to save America from the ravages of the Euro-style secular socialism that the Democrats are determined to continue foisting on the nation, incrementally but surely.