[counterpunch]

I just thought you considered any idea of Harry Reid's a disqualifier.

Why would you think that?
It would be an assumption without evidence if you did.
I think taking advice from the opposition leader on specific names the opposition would like to see on the court and then using it as a selling point to your own base is really inept.

But that is a specific idea that I find objectionable, not any idea. It is quite different than simply pointing to Reid's acknowledgment of the long Senate tradition of supporting one of their own.

Now if Reid's suggestion had come with the qualifier that it must be a specific Senator, say, Senator Robert Byrd, and Bush took that specific advice, then I would be critical of him for doing so. I see little difference between that and what Bush actually did.

[maryz]

Well, because you said "now we're taking Harry Reid's ideas."

Reid did suggest names -- as I recall many of them were conservative. Without checking, I don't know how many came from states with Dem governors who would name a replacement. In any case, I'm sure Reid thought it would be a great idea to get rid of a conservative senator and get a Dem.