Monday, September 26, 2005

This is from RedState.org. I don't know what the hell to make of it:

Word in legal circles is that Priscilla Owen is set to become the next justice appointed to the United States Supreme Court. Unfortunately, I have received reliable information late this afternoon that Karl Rove, among others, is making a last minute push for the President to consider Alberto Gonzales, despite previous assurances from inside the White House, Justice Department, and Senate that Gonzales was not being considered.

...This afternoon I contacted my White House source who says Karl Rove "believes that Gonzales is conservative and, given the current docket, will have time to prove it before midterm elections."

...One last point from my White House source. The source says some conservatives inside the White House, including the source, feel some "conservative frustration," i.e. conservatives are being seen, but not heard.


Bush has already pissed off the right by not embracing the idea of a crackdown on immigration, and by calling for a big federal relief program for the Gulf region without draconian offsetting cuts in spending. If there's any truth to this rumor and he does pick Gonzales, I think this really could be strike three for him with the base.

If this rumor is true, I don't believe it's Rove who really wants Gonzales. (If Rove thinks the selection of a Hispanic justice would persuade Latinos to pull the lever for the GOP in future elections, surely there are other Hispanic candidates who would pass the right's litmus tests.) I think it's all Bush. I think he thinks he's the president of the United States, dammit, and he should be able to pick his pal for the Supreme Court if he wants to. Well, tough for him: He's a pawn of the interest groups that vetted him in 2000 and declared him acceptable as the GOP's candidate. He's in for a fight if he tries to cross them.

If I were a Democratic officeholder, I'd be taunting the sonofabitch in public statements: "The president would like to nominate Alberto Gonzales, but he has to answer to right-wing special interest groups who've told him they won't accept Gonzales because he doesn't pass certain litmus tests." Why the hell not? Why not try to formulate a new narrative about Bush, one in which he's pathetic and weak? Why is there still a perception that only the Democrats are beholden to interest groups, while Republicans are firm-jawed lone wolves who answer only to God and their own moral compasses? Bush still benefits from that perception, even now.

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