Here we go. With George Bush nominating the extreme right wing Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court we are headed toward the ‘great confrontation’ that we didn’t get with either Roberts or Miers. Roberts was obviously quailfied and hard to resist because he was conservative, but not necessarily extreme. Miers we didn’t have to resist because the hard right activists screamed about her lack of quailfication and non-existent views. Alito is different. He is well qualified as a lawyer, but is extreme in his politics. He has made it clear he is opposed to Roe v Wade; and more sweepingly he has voiced loud opposition to legislation based on the Interstate Commerce clause in the Constitution. This latter point makes him a dangerously extreme choice. Much of the New Deal and later progressive legislation depends for its legitimacy on an expansive interpretation of the this clause [i.e. the areas into which the Federal Government can ‘intrude’ into States Rights]. A majority on the Supreme Court voting along these lines would cause whole swathes of legislation to be vulnerable: especially environmental and social legislation [e.g. much racial integration legislation was legitimized by the Interstate Commerce clause]. Bush has thrown some red meat to his supporters and shown us who he really is: he cannot pretend to be governing from the center anymore. He is an extremist too. He is trying to bail himself out from the disasters of Miers, Katrina, and Libby in one fell swoop. The Alito nomination will animate his supporters, but it will also animate his opposition. So the fight is on! This should be fun.

So long Harriet we won’t miss you. Miers withdrawal is a stunning indictment of George Bush’s lack of judgement. He couldn’t push through his less-than-competent crony choice, even past his own party. The right wing extremists who currently pull the strings in the Republican party, and have moved as far from the mainstream as they can, beat George to a pulp on this one. He deserved it. Had Miers been even vaguely qualified, intead of being jsut one more Texas buddy, Bush would surely have found someone to support her. Instead even uber Bush fans such as the hard right James Dobson, who as you may recall endorsed Miers initially at Rove’s urging, has come down as being opposed. Presumably his ‘flock’ weighs more on his mind than loyalty to the sinking White House. Looks like the rats are jumping! By the way: Dobson runs a church despite not being ordained, his claim to fame, or to infamy, is his best selling book advocating spanking as a form of child discipline, and prior to this he was a Bush man all the way. Now what does George do? Nominate a religious freak and openly break with his ‘no litmus test’ policy? Or throw in the towel and remember that most of America is not a bunch of evangelical extremists and sits squarely in the middle? Maybe it’s time for him to forget his ‘base’ and stand up for the whole country. Nah! Won’t happen! Look for a fanatic.

Even now, with his office embattled and exposed as the source of the deception that led us into war, Dick Cheney continues to press for the right to allow the CIA and U.S. surrogates to use torture as a means of interrogation. The irony is that the legislation he is trying to amend is being presented by John McCain who was a victim of torture during his imprisonment by the North Vietnamese. Now let me get this straight: who has the moral values here? A war hero, ex-torture victim, or a deceptive war-monger who avoided serving during the Vietnam war because [in his own words] ‘he was too busy’ building his political career? What kind of country has the U.S become that its leadership is so twisted? Cheny and his cohorts are throwbacks to the nasty era of Cold War conflict. They should leave now while something can be salvaged from the mess they made.