Reading judicial tea leaves

By Aussiegirl

"Al Gonzales is a great friend of mine," Bush told the paper. "When a friend gets attacked, I don't like it." -- President Bush quoted in a recent Time interview.

Hmmm -- does the President sound a might edgy here? It looks like the president is laying down the law to his conservative wing again with this blunt statement. Where was the stern warning to the democrats to avoid a filibuster debacle? I hope he doesn't nominate Gonzales out of personal pique. Personal friendship and undying devotion is hardly a reason to nominate a justice.

Furthermore, as today's WSJ editorial referenced below notes, Gonzales is a potential problem in that he would have to recuse himself from most upcoming important decisions concerning the rights of detainees and other issues involved in the war on terror because of his record in approving certain methods of interrogation and also his position as Attorney General. That would lead to the specter of a 4-4 deadlock on many important issues that concern national security at a time of great threat. Now is no time to take things personally and strike out -- certainly not at his conservative base. As the WSJ editorial notes, nominating originalist judges was one of President Bush's campaign pledges, and he can hardly take it personally that conservatives intend to take him at his word.

Indeed, I find it harder and harder to suppress my suspicion that since his re-election President Bush has increasingly gone out of his way to make clear that he owes nothing to his base, and is steering a course for the middle-left. He appears to be attempting to appease elements of the media, democrats and international critics in an attempt to mend fences with them. As I've said before, this is a hopeless cause, they will never like him simply because of who he is and because they have formulated an opinion of him in their minds that is necessary to their continued efforts to push their agenda. They will not be wooed.

Funny that Bush didn't take the smears and outright lies hurled at his nominee for UN Ambassador, John Bolton, quite so personally. The president seems to have been content so far to sit back and let his nominee swing slowly in the wind while he is relentlessly smacked around like a pinata at a birthday party by the democrats and the media. Even if he is eventually approved for the post, either by vote or by recess appointment, he will be a damaged candidate in terms of his public reputation. How do you get that back?