Wholeheartedly agree on a moderate swing vote being the better choice and is what we would most likely get from McCain. While I will not be voting at the top of the ballot, I am fairly optimistic, right now anyway, that McCain/Palin will be successful.
I wouldn’t put the blame on McCain for having to go more moderate though. There are enough rabid anti-Constitution Senators that will fight a liberal being replaced by a conservative to their last breath. Bush made two great picks and was really lucky to get it through. His greatest conservative accomplishment. This time around, Arlene Specter will do everything in his power to kill any more shift right in the court. It would be great if McCain took on the fight to get a conservative to replace a liberal, but it would be the nastiest fight in the history of Supreme Court nominations. This will really have to be a stealth candidate. Just keep Redman out of the process and we will be OK.