The midnight news from WABC last night (yes, I know, but it's the news of the Other Side, and we should hear it) gave the lede that "Bush has made his Supreme Court selection!"
It then led into an brief interview with Arlen Specter, who was called away from a "Capitol Hill softball game" to meet with Dubya about the choice.
Apparently, the new SCJ will come "from the mainstream of American jurisprudence", although, as even WABC noted, " 'mainstream' is in the eye of the beholder."
It makes perfect Rovian sense for the nominee to be announced today, speeding up the process by about 2 weeks from the previously announced timeframe. As Joe at AmericaBlog says: Let's see if the press can handle two stories at once. The Bushies are obviously betting that the press cannot, and are attempting to distract from TreasonGate.
Joe also states that the Wingers have been informed it will not be Gonzales. He interprets this as the indication that Bush is about to toss the Red Meat Radical Righty into the mix, to please his base. This would seem to be a typical move on the WH's part: they have to shore up their far-right constituency to battle the Forces of Evidence that are about to be unleashed between now and Fitzpatrick's expected indictments in October.
I dreamt - no joke - that Bush nominated Janice Rogers Brown for Supreme Court Justice. Why?
1.) She's a woman, just like O'Connor, and Laura has said she is pressuring George to appoint a woman.
2.) She just got confirmed to the Appeals Court - "how can the Congress refuse to confirm her when they just did?"
3.) She's black and has an "inspirational story". How can the Democrats possibly oppose a black woman? (Yeah, yeah, we've heard this one before.) "Those hypocrites!" This is part of the new RNC suckup to black voters.
4.) Since her appointment, the DC Court of Appeals has been very active, handing the Bush White House a big juicy victory, upholding a lower court ruling that bin Laden's driver can be tried by a military tribunal at Guantanamo. The military tribunals are now proceeding.
Next Tuesday, the DC Court begins considering the legality of Jose Padilla's detention as an "enemy combatant". Can an American citizen, arrested on US soil, be stripped of his citizenship and constitutional rights on the President's say-so alone?
Nominating Brown is both payback and incentive to vote the way Bush wants.
Well, I woke up nauseated, to say the least.
Who do you think Bush is going to be "presenting to the nation" in his speech this week?