"Can anyone name a potential conservative scotus candidate who could be confirmed with the Senate we have."
Some Miers backers here would point you to Roberts.
Personally, I think if the President had nominated a solid conservative with a proven record and then told the Dems and RINOs "bring it on" he could have won that fight. I think it's a wimp out to say that even with a majority in the Senate we can't get conservative judges through.
I hope you're wrong, because there won't be any more conservative judges at the District Court and Appeals Court levels either--unless Bush gets an OK when he asks the Gan of 14 for a "mother may I."
You said: Personally, I think if the President had nominated a solid conservative with a proven record and then told the Dems and RINOs "bring it on" he could have won that fight.
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I hope you are right, but I fear that you are wrong. This Senate has not gotten through other conservative judges nominated by President Bush. The last time this was an issue we got the gang of 14, and no nuclear/constitutional option, as I had hoped we would.
There is too much going on of serious consequence for Bush to have to endure a prolonged and possibly losing supreme court nomination fight. While I have no greater evidence than anyone else, I suspect that very much of the president's time is spent on national security issues that we will never (or at least not for many years) hear about. You KNOW that there are terror attacks here in the US that are being thwarted, probably weekly or at least monthly. This congress did not deal with Social Security reform or as far as I know, make the tax cuts permanent.
If we could count on the Senate, I believe Bush would have nominated a hard line strict constructionist to SCOTUS. He doesn't have confidence that such a choice would be confirmed, and, sadly, I think he is right.