Ok let's use SCOTUS as a test case. Nixon appointed Rehnquist. Ford appointed liberal Stevens, no big surprise there.
Reagan appointed O'Connor, Scalia, and Kennedy. O'Connor was the fulfilling of a campaign promise and now 20 years later a big mistake. Scalia, no one on FR has a problem with. Kennedy was Reagan's third choice. Oldmobile Ted Kennedy in 1987, "borked" Robert Bork, and some people(Libertarians) on FR have had praise for Oldsmobile Ted for keeping Robert Bork off of SCOTUS.
That leads us to Justice Kennedy, who is a good friend of liberal Harvard Law Professor, Laurence Tribe.
Next we have Souter, appointed by Bush, and everybody on FR will agree that was a mistake, but there is a plethora of evidence that Bush was snookered by McCain mentor, former NH Senator Warren Rudman.
Next comes Clarence Thomas, even with the fraudulent accusations leveled to him by charlatan Anita Hill, barely passed Senate confirmation.
Next comes the Clinton appointees, Ginsburg and Breyer. Both passed confirmation easily because of the 56-44 advantage the demo's had in the Senate during 92-94.
Now comes the next question, if Bush 41 had been President during the 92-94 period, would he have appointed 2 key votes on the liberal wing of SCOTUS.
JMO, but I highly doubt that he would have appointed Ginsburg or Breyer, and we would never know who he appointed for Scotus in that time period, since malcontent conservatives went to Ross Perot, whose wife at the time was a bigwig in the Texas chapter of Planned Parenthood.
Now it is fair conversation to debate if Bush 41 was President during the time period(92-94) when the SCOTUS vacancies came up, to debate who Bush 41 would have nominated.
You Sid, would probably argue that it would have been 2 Souter's. I would argue against that and argue that Bush 41 would have nominated 2 more Clarence Thomas's since Bush 41 won the tough nomination fight in a demo Senate, even after the demo's threw all the mud they had and it didn't stick.
But we will never know since from the history of that time, a lot of malcontent conservatives threw thier vote to Perot, giving the Clintons the victory and giving Clinton the power to nominate and appoint Justices Ginsburg and Breyer.
The Supreme Court is the real prize here, and the real reason why it is imperative to elect Republicans and defeat Democrats.
Arghhh! You had to remind me. I was one. Guilty. NEVER AGAIN. I repeat. NEVER AGAIN.