The Moderate Liberal Punditocracy has swung around to my view so fast that I am not sure they really had time to read my blogs in order to know what to say. But that's the nature of the blogosphere: thoughts travel with the speed of your cable connection. David Broder now accepts the general principle that Judge Roberts ought to be confirmed for the simple reason that he is extraordinarily qualified for the job.
The question of whether Judge John Roberts is qualified to be chief justice of the United States has been rendered moot by his performance in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. He is so obviously -- ridiculously -- well-equipped to lead government's third branch that it is hard to imagine how any Democrats can justify a vote against his confirmation.
With the Washington Post on board, the only interesting question is how all this will affect the next nomination struggle. I argued that Democrats were now in the business of appearing reasonable, if grossly verbose, so that their cries and laments would seem more credible one Bush sends up his next nominee. Mark Steyn, whose prose has the most deliciously wicked edge of any knife in the journalistic drawer, cuts it the same way.
We're now told that most Dems will vote for Roberts in order to give themselves some bipartisan cred before they Bork the president's next nominee. That sounds like feeble spin to avoid getting flayed by the Moveon.org types.
Yeah, it does. And anyway it has been seriously compromised by Broder and the Washington Post. If the standard for confirming Roberts is that a judge be reasonable, not a radical, and well-qualified, then that is the standard for the next nominee as well. I imagine that the Bush Administration can drive another conservative through that gate.
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