This morning, I came across this petition asking demanding that the White House release key documents on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. I signed the petition (in part because it’s a kind of neat interface with the map and all) and I agree that the White House ought to be more forthcoming with information on Roberts. To give this guy a fair hearing, we need to find out who he is.
But c’mon, people. Roberts is about as good as we’re going to do.
I don’t think there’s any question that Roberts is indeed a conservative. But as far as he’s been portrayed so far in the media, he does not seem to be an ideologue in the stripe of someone like Thomas or Scalia. And with W. et al, it could have been a lot worse. A LOT. I saw an article in the paper the weekend before Roberts nominated about a movement to convince Bush to nominate Roy Moore, who was the Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice who was impeached/fired because of this whole Ten Commandments deal.
Okay, maybe nominating a nutjob like this guy was never going to happen. But still, considering the possibilities of who Bush could have named, I think liberal-types got off relatively easy. I don’t know if Bush actually “won” the election (Harper’s this month has an interesting article that still raises questions about 2004 and Ohio), but I do know that Kerry didn’t and I also know the dems lost seats in the Senate. The only thing the left can do about the Supreme Court (and everything else, for that matter) is to fight harder and try to turn the tide.
As I typed that, I am listening to an NPR “Morning Edition” story about how Army recruiting is way down. It’s stories like this (and Bush’s approval rating and Rove’s criminal activities and a whole bunch of other things) that give me hope for 06.
I agree. He’s a bastard… but not as bad as some of them.