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The Lessons of Alito (It's important to remember one thing: quality matters)
The Weekly Standard ^ | February 6, 2006 | Terry Eastland, for the Editors

Posted on 01/28/2006 11:24:16 AM PST by RWR8189

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1 posted on 01/28/2006 11:24:20 AM PST by RWR8189
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To: RWR8189

You're certainly right about one thing - Sandy O'Connor being unpredictable. One never knew how the Constitution would be interpreted with her. I guess it depended on her mood. We don't need that kind of jurist again.


2 posted on 01/28/2006 11:36:16 AM PST by kjo
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To: RWR8189

Someone needs to ask Schmuckie Schumer if the American Bar Association is "Out of the Mainstream."


3 posted on 01/28/2006 11:36:28 AM PST by sono (Ted Kennedy's naming his dog Splash is like Jack Abramoff naming his dog Bribe.)
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To: RWR8189

"Defenders of the Miers nomination--very few in the end--were wrong to say that its withdrawal would weaken the president politically, especially with respect to judicial nominations. They were wrong to warn that someone of Alito's stature and judicial philosophy might not be confirmed, since Senate Democrats would be especially pumped to oppose such a nomination, seeing it as an act of capitulation to the conservatives who had so strongly objected to Miers."

Boy, I still remember Hugh Hewitt and his tribe here wailing and moaning about the tragedy of Miers being lost as a justice and how abominable us mean conservatives were to her. Anybody not think we're better off now? Because I promise you, Miers would have been another O'Connor. Big win for the right here, gang.


4 posted on 01/28/2006 11:43:19 AM PST by Luke21
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To: kjo

The Miers nomination is one of the very few political missteps Buhs has made during his presidency. Luckily for us, he learned from his mistake, and nominated a judge with impeccable character and credentials -- Sam Alito.


5 posted on 01/28/2006 11:48:12 AM PST by Kjobs (Murtha IS A COWARD!! Go Jean Schmidt!)
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To: kjo

You don't even want to go back there with the Republican female voting block. Let sleeping dogs lie.


6 posted on 01/28/2006 11:58:34 AM PST by Earthdweller ("West to Islam" Cake. Butter your liberals, slowly cook France, stir in Europe then watch it rise.)
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To: RWR8189
I think Bush is going to get TWO chances. The result of that will be that it will totally change the qualifications we look at in a president.

Even with only one more, the USSC will be totally off everyone's radar for the next 20 years.

7 posted on 01/28/2006 11:59:39 AM PST by McGavin999 (If Intelligence Agencies can't find leakers, how can we expect them to find terrorists?)
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To: RWR8189
"The Democrats have yet to find a red state where they can make the case for what might be called "living-Constitution" jurists."

This tells us something about the common sense that exists out there in the active minds of heartland America, as opposed to the limited vision of the PP, PAW, NOW, ACLU, NEA, Hollywood types who head the Democratic Party and the puppets who speak for them.

Kerry, Kennedy, Feinstein, Reid, Durbin, Dean et al, as well as their staffers and Party mouthpieces are locked in to a view that does not resonate with most Americans.

8 posted on 01/28/2006 12:06:07 PM PST by loveliberty2
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To: RWR8189
In the end, a big lesson from the search for O'Connor's successor

Lets also put another stake in the notion that a nominee "replaces" the outgoing justice. There is no tradition of finding a moderate to replace a moderate, or a liberal to replace a liberal. Its an open seat. Simple.

Because you just know that when another lib retires from SCOTUS, the Left we be screaming about preserving the "balance" of the court, or some other such nonsense.

9 posted on 01/28/2006 12:28:40 PM PST by Fenris6 (3 Purple Hearts in 4 months w/o missing a day of work? He's either John Rambo or a Fraud)
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To: Luke21
"Defenders of the Miers nomination--very few in the end--were wrong to say that its withdrawal would weaken the president politically, especially with respect to judicial nominations. They were wrong to warn that someone of Alito's stature and judicial philosophy might not be confirmed, since Senate Democrats would be especially pumped to oppose such a nomination, seeing it as an act of capitulation to the conservatives who had so strongly objected to Miers."

That can't be said too often!

10 posted on 01/28/2006 12:31:33 PM PST by Giant Conservative
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To: Earthdweller

It's important to learn from the past: O'Connor was a mistake. Meiers was a mistake.


11 posted on 01/28/2006 12:33:28 PM PST by Giant Conservative
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To: Giant Conservative
After all, who can doubt where the Alito nomination would be today if Democrats had been in control of the Senate? It is striking that the Alito nomination is already an issue in some 2006 races, used by Republican incumbents against Democratic challengers (in Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Arizona) and by Republican candidates hoping to win seats in red states (West Virginia and Florida).

Many conservative voters here in PA are mad at Santorum, but we need his vote to confirm judges.

12 posted on 01/28/2006 12:39:37 PM PST by Dr. Scarpetta (Democrats would vote against Jesus Christ for the Supreme Court.)
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To: Dr. Scarpetta

Actually, I have many good things to say about Santorum. His support of Specter isn't one of them, but I'd still vote for Santorum in a primary.


13 posted on 01/28/2006 12:43:45 PM PST by Giant Conservative
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To: Giant Conservative

If there was a good conservative running against Santorum in the primary, Ricky would have a very good chance of losing here in PA. He has lost his initial image of being principled, pretty comprehensively.


14 posted on 01/28/2006 12:53:29 PM PST by Doug Loss
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To: Kjobs
The Miers nomination is one of the very few political missteps Buhs has made during his presidency.

Some days I think it wasn't a misstep. The conventional wisdom was that Bush had to nominate a female. He did. It got shot down. That freed him to nominate a white male.

15 posted on 01/28/2006 1:00:53 PM PST by dirtboy (My new years resolution is to quit using taglines...)
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To: RWR8189

I think the writers are quite right to highlight the importance of intellectual quality when the real contest is a contest of ideas. The ideas you have are no more important than your ability to articulate them and defend them with knowledge, logic and sound judgement.

Harriet Miers could well hold 100% of the same "judicial philosophy" views as Alito, but, my personal guess is that, from as much as most of us know about her, she had less that 50% of the intellectual ability to effectively support the arguments for the application of that philosophy.

Cudos to one and all for helping Bush switch to Alito.


16 posted on 01/28/2006 1:03:12 PM PST by Wuli
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To: sono
Someone needs to ask Schmuckie Schumer if the American Bar Association is "Out of the Mainstream."

Schmuckie's "mainstream" is running dry.

17 posted on 01/28/2006 1:10:33 PM PST by oldbrowser (No matter how cynical I get, I can't seem to keep up)
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To: Doug Loss

Why, besides his supporting Specter?


18 posted on 01/28/2006 1:14:32 PM PST by Giant Conservative
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To: Giant Conservative
It was also a mistake to overlook the many fine qualified female candidates and completely trash one of our own female Republicans.

This does not look good for the female voting block prospects despite the belly aching around here that there should not be a requirement to replace a female with a female.
19 posted on 01/28/2006 2:26:40 PM PST by Earthdweller ("West to Islam" Cake. Butter your liberals, slowly cook France, stir in Europe then watch it rise.)
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To: Earthdweller
People should be addressed on their merits; Harriet Meiers was a poor candidate ideologically and otherwise, and her withdrawal was something that conservatives had to make happen.

If President Bush wants to appoint Phyllis Schlafly to replace Ruth Ginsburg, I would love that, but the field of potential appointees shouldn't be narrowed by race or sex at the expense of getting the best candidate judicial ideology wise.

20 posted on 01/28/2006 2:36:04 PM PST by Giant Conservative
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