The whole "who replaces who" debate is aimed at preservation of status quo.
Personally, I think it's a distracting argument. Conservatives should be striving for a SCOTUS with 9 Scalia/Thomas/Rhenquist style Justices.
I totally agree, but it is an argument that the Democrats and the MSM are going to pound home to the people 24/7. This all would have been avoided if we could compare Alito to Rhenquist and Roberts to O'Conner.