" Bush's record of appointing judges in Texas suggests he will appoint more cautious judges than constitutionalist ones, more O'Connors than Scalias. One analyst made an observation repeated elsewhere by others: "Bush;s judicial picks are not extreme... [They] don't carry an ideological flag with them to the bench." One paper quoted a University of Texas professor saying that Bush's approach "is not so focused on ideology [as] it is on reputation and ability." Tom Pauken, former chairman of the Texas Republican Party, calls Bush's appointments "a mixed bag" and says, "I would not have confidence that we might not see another David Souter on the Supreme Court in a Bush presidency." (from: http://dutyisours.com/human_events.htm)"
Gonzalez is likely coming next.
"Bush is a politican and a skilled one not be misunderestimated. He has been quite ambiguous on SCOTUS appointments for years as it turns out."
And that was supposed to be a good thing. Slip it under the radar, if you will.
As we see now, if you don't hold politicians to some sort of standard, they don't have incentive to follow through. For judicial nominations, it's incredibly important, from now on out, to ask your representative to take a hard, known stand, before you pledge your vote.
No more of this "incremental" garbage.