Appointments

The New York Times holds true to liberal form with this piece full of not so subtle attacks and misleading statistics about "conservative Republican" judicial appointments (vetted by the conspirators at the Federalist Society, no less!), and Senator McCain's alleged lack of interest in the issue of Judicial Nominations.  The goal, of course, is to make it sound like the only way Senator McCain' will placate conservatives is by promising to work toward "the goal of tilting the courts rightward."

In addition to maligning the impressive list of attorneys who make up McCain's Justice Advisory Committee, the article is riddled with a number of untruths regarding Senator Obama's alleged refusal to be "explicit about how he would use the authority to nominate judicial candidates."

Senator Obama has, in fact, been quite clear on what kind of judicial nominees he would put forth.  When Wolf Blitzer recently asked him the question, he first praised Justices Breyer and Ginsburg as "sensible", and went on to say:

"Now, there's going to be those 5 percent of cases or 1 percent of cases where the law isn't clear. And the judge then has to bring in his or her own perspectives, his ethics, his or her moral bearings...And, in those circumstances, what I do want is a judge who's sympathetic enough to those who are on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those who can't have access to political power, and, as a consequence, can't protect themselves from being -- from being dealt with sometimes unfairly, that the courts become a refuge for judges."

Senator Obama voted against the confirmations of both Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito.  He has praised Earl Warren as the paragon of what a Chief Justice should be.  There is little doubt about what kind of appointees he would nominate to fly through a Democratic Senate, only to take their seats on Federal Courts around the country and begin dismantling what little return to legal and Constitutional sanity have been brought about by the current President's appointees.  Yet where are the RNC and RNSC on pushing the importance of this issue that wins on Election Day?  The silence is deafening.