O'Connor

Big news indeed. I tend to be pretty pessimistic that the President will suddenly find a consensus bone in his body and reach out across party lines on this one. This is obviously his chance to make a legacy for himself. And he's shown no inclination to do so with any other judicial appointments. Also, the guy was elected to two terms, sort of, and he clearly feels that he still has enough of a mandate to put his kind of conservative on the bench. Additionally, this will shift the focus away from Iraq, Social Security, and all of the other things dragging down this penalty. He'll WANT a Supreme Court fight; he'll relish it.

So I'd put up all the names and numbers of who to call and email to plead for moderation in this nomination, but I'm pretty sure it won't do a hell of a lot of good. We'll all have to deal with the aftermath after a nominee is selected.

It's nice to think that a groundswell of public support for moderation in advance of a nominee will somehow sway the White House's viewpoint. It's also nice to think about flowers and trees and magical unicorns.