[Looper]

I doubt that Specter would have crossed Bush if he picked a Luttig or Jones; Specter would have risked getting run out of his chairmanship.

I doubt Bush would have lost both from Maine. So he loses Chafee and maybe 2 other Rs, he would have picked up Ds from red states. Bush didn't have to capitulate to the RINO contingency.

[Miss Marple]

Here are the four who probably wouldn't have supported a hard-line conservative: Snowe, Collins, Chaffee, Spector. That's four.

Add to them the cowards who whine about stuff (one even CRIED when he refused to vote for Bolton): Voinovich, Dewine, Graham, and Lugar. That makes 8 possible no votes.

Now, to that add McCain and Hagel, the nut-case wild cards, and you have 10 possible no votes.

In a situation like this, you would get NO democrat votes. None, zero, zip.

So, you could end up with only 45 Yes votes for a conservative nominee. We still lose, and the President looks weak.

Then, of course, we would be treated to all sorts of "the conservative movement is dead" articles, the party would split, we would probably lose one house of Congress in 2006, and we would go into the 2008 primaries with a fractured party.

I do not think a fight is worth the risk, especially if this nominee is really a conservative.

I still don't understand why I am to believe Mark Levin and Ann Coulter over Dick Cheney, James Dobson, and the President.