[Miss Marple]

I will grant you that you MIGHT flip Mary Landrieu, although she might go out with a bang, voting against Miers. After all, she is almost guaranteed to lose her next election since the New Orleans base she counted on has been scattered to the four winds. She might choose to demonstrate her loyalty, hoping for a plum job in an '08 Rat administration or a high-paying job with a Rat-backing corporation. The idea that Byrd would vote for a black woman is pretty shaky as well. He would simply go off on some rant about the history of the Senate, blah, blah, and then vote no. Nelson, maybe.

BUT, you see what you're doing, don't you? You are counting on democrats to get a conservative justice passed. Do you really think that if it were Owens, they wouldn't all stand together? Evan Bayh, my senator and a supposed moderate, voted against Roberts. The state is outraged, but he doesn't care; what's important to him is getting a slot on the 08 ticket. I don't think he will vote for anyone Bush nominates.

Really, you are supposing a best-case scenario. That isn't how the Senate works, in my opinion, particularly on a vote such as you envision.

[mwl1]

I have respected your wisdom for years on this site and understand completely your logic.

My point is this: now is the time, before the 2006 elections, to get as conservative a nominee confirmed as possible, just as Reagan did with Scalia before the 1986 midterms.

There is no guarantee that we'll hold the Senate beginning in Jan 2007, and everyone on this site knows that the last nominee in 2007-08 will be more moderate, not more conservative.

The time is NOW to wage the battle for a proven conservative, while we have operational control of the Senate.