A bite from the reality dragon is lethal

Stephen Bainbridge believes John McCain will appoint conservative justices to the Supreme Court if elected. He pledged to do so at CPAC last week, and presidents are easier to pressure these days. Remember Harriet Miers?

McCain pledged to uphold the Constitution too. How did that turn out?

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To be sure, Presidents all too often break campaign promises. Remember George Bush 41’s “read my lips” pledge on taxes?

In the new media environment, however, it’s getting easier to hold a President’s feet to the fire. Remember George Bush 43’s aborted nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court?

Those of us who waged war against Miers succeeded in part because in the 2000 campaign Bush had explicitly promised to nominate justices in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. We demanded that Bush keep that promise and, as it became clear that Miers was made from a different mold, we kept up a stead drum beat of criticism. In the end, we won. Miers was forced to withdraw and Samuel Alito became the newest member of the Supreme Court.

If a President McCain were to nominate a David Souter clone, the right’s netroots would have a collective conniption fit that would make the Miers fight look like pattycake. We might not win, but we’d at least bleed McCain of enough political capital to give even Warren Rudman second thoughts.

Remember McCain-Feingold? What was that bit of cheese for the conservative voices. Do you think he’ll flip-flop on that posture. At the first agitation from talk radio and the blogs, he’ll reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine to stifle any enmity. He may even do that beforehand to steal a march on the conservatives. Smart aggressive move, isn’t it?

How about the McCain-Kennedy fiasco, a highly destructive multicultural program packaged in a “We’re so diverse” wrapper. Call it another Mariel boatlift sans boats! It achieves the goal as well as the diversity agenda in the Balkan States, which has become a PC word for ethnic cleansing.

Who can overlook the McCain-Lieberman bill, the “Climate Stewardship Act of 2004” which was the most regressive tax on energy. All promoted by a person who never held a real job in business.

If you are buying McCain’s rhetoric, you’ll conclude Obama will join the Marines to get Osama.

Archived in: 2008 Election, Conservatives, Fairness Doctrine, George Bush, John McCain, Liberalism, McCain, Supreme Court, Talk Radio, Taxes