[Edit35]

Although your posting made a lot of sense, I still have a hard time believing that the Bush Administration could not find one candidate, NOT ONE JUDGE or law professor or whatever, in the entire country who has an acceptable non-legislative-from-the-bench conservative type of record.

Not one!! Hard to believe.

[Principled]

THe Bush Administration could not find one candidate, NOT ONE JUDGE or law professor or whatever, in the entire country who has an acceptable non-legislative-from-the-bench conservative type of record who would agree to go through the life-destroying Senate confirmation process.

If you had a great job, would you risk it all with such certainty for disaster?

[Bush 100 Percent]

MojoWire,

You wrote "who has an acceptable on-legislative-from-the-bench conservative type of record" .....

How would we have known that they wouldn't be a Souter or a Kennedy? From what I understand, that's what they had.