Senate Invertebrate

Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter displayed more of his good judgment (remember the Kerry/Specter election signs?) today:

The leadership of the Senate and of the Senate Judiciary Committee emerged from meeting President Bush shortly after 8 a.m.

Names were mentioned, although not by the President.

Several Senators stressed that they had urged the President not to choose a nominee from a federal appeals court but rather someone with "practical" experience.

This is clearly emerging as a sub-theme and perhaps might be seen in the context of some suggestions that a Senator or former Senator ought to be nominated so as to help obtain a smooth confirmation.

Specter said he felt "comfortable" that there would be someone "who is a consensus candidate." He said the President and the Senators discussed scheduling in some detail. "I am flexible," said Specter. ".....Our duty is to have a justice in place by the first Monday in October."

Specter seemed angry about "interest groups," saying they "vastly overstate their influence.....What they're doing is counterproductive and a lot of times insulting.....The interest groups did not defeat Judge Bork. It was his judicial philosophy."

Specter said there was "one other topic....The sense to look for somebody as a nominee who does not come out of the circuit courts. I'll attribute this to myself," he said. "It would be good to have some diversity" in terms of the candidate's backround.

Specter is a g*ddamned fool. There will no consensus candidate since the Left will attack ANYONE the President nominates. To pay lip service to this notion serves only the Left. His comments on Bork are untruthful and self-serving and his musings about selecting a non-judge panders directly to the latest Democratic idea. How about Zell Miller, Arlen?

John McCain on the other hand has got it right:

During the campaign, President Bush said he will appoint judges who will strictly interpret the constitution... thinking anything else is either amnesia or ignorance... elections have consequences... whomever he nominates deserves an up or down vote and no filibuster... and an up or down vote is what we will have.