my point is simple - if a guy like Spector can give us Alitos on the bench, so can a president like Giuliani.
we saw how well the conservative base in PA, did in returning Santorum to the senate. and Allen in VA, and Talent in MO.
Spector was coerced into allowing Bush's nominations through, it was the price of getting to remain committeee chairman.
There IS ABSOLUTELY NO WAY TO FORCE A PRESIDENT TO NOMINATE CONSERVATIVES and NO REASON TO BELIEVE THAT GIULIANI WOULD ABANDON HIS LIBERAL PRINCIPLES AND DO SO.
The lesson is the same - only when forced to. Left to his own devices, the path will remain fixed inexorably to the left.
we saw how well the conservative base in PA, did in returning Santorum to the senate. and Allen in VA, and Talent in MO.
Nice try. If you know anything about PA politics, you know the degree to which Santorum alienated his base with his active support of Specter in 04.
He probably would have lost in 06 anyway, due to the general GOP bloodbath (you leave out the losses of "conservative" stalwarts like Lincoln Chafee and Gang of 14 author Mike DeWine in your analysis, BTW).
Santorum was faced against a candidate whose namesake father is probably the most famous ardently pro-life Democratic policitian of the past quarter century. I'll bet in PA, where the senior citizen population is much larger than most states. many thought they were voting for the old man. Bobby Jr. is not his father (he'll vote however Dingy Harry tells him to vote), but his father's good name with social cons in this state certainly didn't hurt him.
Allen lost to a supposedly pro-life, pro-gun veteran on the strength of one dumb word, followed by an unprecedented media assault. Don't know much about Talent, other than he almost lost to a dead guy in his first election and thus was a marginal candidate in a down GOP year anyway.
Once again - nice try.