I'm willing to wager that Breyer retires in the next 8 years.
" If Bush gets the chance to appoint a justice, he'll appoint some mealy-mouthed jerkoff who has kissed the proper backsides, just as he has done with his cabinet. Where you get all this faith in Bush, I'll never understand."
I like Rumsfeld and Cheney, and I don't see them kissing anyone's backside. Rumsfeld has even attacked the Pentagon's sacred bureaucracy, and Cheney is far from "mealy-mouthed." Further, Condoleeza Rice was nowhere near Beltway political circles when President Bush pulled her in from California, so she certainly wasn't kissing a bunch of backsides in the last 8 years.
As for having faith in President Bush, he delivered on his campaign promise of a tax cut, changed the tone in Washignton, brought back our EP-3 crew from China without bloodshed or bribes, and he's managed to put together a global coalition against terrorism.
Show me one politician who has matched those feats in the last decade. Bush's word and Bush's deeds are dependable. Asking for more than that is akin to praying to the god of armchair quarterbacks.