I'm thinking over this interesting comment I just received on the prudence of having a big battle over the meaning of the Court right now. Limbaugh has taken my line --that he's not freaked out, just a little disappointed-- but also added that this choice was made "from weakness" --that it signals Lame Duckdom to the President's enemies. My correspondent makes exactly the opposite case, and I'll let him speak for himself.
If the Lord is with us, W. will get another appointment in 07 or 08. They will be better years for a knock-down, drag-out. At the moment Bush has more than 3 years to go and resists being a lame duck. In other words, he still has an ambitious agenda that needs to get through Congres. The more I think of it, the more I think the key indeed is Harry Reid's welcoming her. The Dems are positively grateful to Bush for not forcing them against the wall. NOT because this means they get their way on social issues (I think they know the jig is up on Roe et. al.) but because they don't want to be forced by the wingnuts that control their party to have to wage a nuclear war against her. Bush has a stake in not embittering them at the moment. There is time to "embitter" (read: a teaching moment) in his last 2 years. There are enough old crones left on the Court to hope that will happen.
You mean the Dems aren't already embittered? Well, I can buy my correspondent's view that Senate Dems aren't bitter --just at the mercy of the MoveOn crowd (hereinafter designated as MOC). As a practical matter, my correspondent continues:
We all complain that there is some "teaching moment" being lost with Miers (and Roberts), and act as if somehow Bush is selling us short. People want a big debate about the meaning of the Constitution. But when did W. ever promise such a debate? There isn't a single indication that he has any idea of the issue as we have articulated it [referring to a discussion we've been having]. What Bush thinks is that the judiciary is overruling the other branches too much. That is the key to understanding these appointments: get the courts to think less of their own power and respect the other branches. Our conservative friends are making these appointments into rocket science, but it ain't.
