Ben Nelson Looks Forward To Learning

A noncommital, tepid response to the Supreme Court announcement by the Senate's most conservative Democrat:

"President Obama is to be commended for selecting a nominee with a significant breadth and depth of legal experience to replace retiring Justice David Souter. I look forward to learning more about Judge Sonia Sotomayor's background, record and qualifications -- and to meeting with her to discuss her judicial philosophy -- as this important United States Supreme Court nomination moves forward. "During my tenure as Nebraska's governor, I appointed 81 judges, including the entire Nebraska Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. As Nebraska's senator since 2001, I have voted on numerous judicial nominees. In each case, I nominated or supported judicial nominees who convinced me they would follow the law, rather than manipulate the law to promote an activist agenda. While my personal views differed from some nominees, I applied no litmus test to them on issues. My main test has always been and remains: Will the nominee follow the law and not make law to fit his or her views?

"Concerning Judge Sotomayor's nomination, I look forward to examining her entire record and commitment to upholding the law and Constitution of the United States in the coming weeks."

This actually represents a step forward for Nelson, who over the weekend said that Gitmo shouldn't be closed and torture's OK with him. Brian Beutler has a bunch more. Nelson has seen the vacuum for a moderate that can hijack the Presidential agenda and stepped right into it - giving himself a lot of glory and cable news appearances. He's like a force of nature, as well as a creature of the peculiar institution of the Senate.