What is respectful about announcing that the President made his choice out of weakness?
I believe his argument was that he sends a perception of weakness. Appeasment toward the demands of the Democrats. Which is true. That is the perception with this pick. Conservatives are unhappy, Democrats are smiling. That is the image and that is the reality. And Chuck S.'s speech that the president did not listen to his 'extremist' base in making the selection asserts that image.
Is the President a weak man? No, and neither did he advance that argument.