It was awful nice of the President to call a prime-time speech to announce his Supreme Court nominee. Those usual afternoon press conferences are so messy, with reporters asking questions and things. And, since it’s so important for a nominee’s self-esteem that he have most of a news cycle that doesn’t involve questions about crimes in the White House, it was very considerate of Mr. Bush.
Because, after all, what’s the point of nominating someone to distract attention from the flames shooting out of the windows of your administration if you allow the press to link the two together?
For example, how would it be if someone were to suggest that one of the questions that should come up during confirmation hearings is where Judge Roberts stands on obstruction of justice. Say, hypothetically, someone, let’s call him Marl Tove, was being interviewed by the FBI, and gave incomplete, or perhaps even false, answers? Would that be a crime? And if he coordinated his story with someone else, maybe someone named Jobert Bovak, would that be conspiracy to obstruct justice? Particularly if there was evidence that Mr. Bovak started claiming he meant a word in a way that might help Marl Tove, despite the fact that every other time he’s every used that word, it meant the more common usage that would land Marl in hot water? Would that be a crime?
Hypothetically, of course, since it wouldn’t do to ask a nominee about an actual case that might come before him.
I think it’s a smart play by the White House to pick a guy who’s right-wing enough to attract opposition from Democrats, but not so flaming that the average, don’t-pay-much-attention folks out there will care. Because even those folks have figured out that the Rove thing smells, and if the Dems keep focus on that, it still has a lot of legs. Let’s hope the Forces of Good can leave the battle over the Court to the groups that were already prepped for that battle, and others can keep pulling on the unraveling threads of Rovegate.