Let the games begin...

Ah, and so it begins.

I see that Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has announced her retirement.

Now, George W-imbecile will finally get his chance to nominate a justice. And we'll see if he uses the nomination to spend some of that imaginary political capital that he deluded himself into believing he earned in the election. Spend it wisely.

This could be a fun and/or frustrating time for politics watchers. Especially given the poll numbers recently out about W-imbecile. He's at the lowest point since ... since his father was there. And he's steadily falling. Even better, polls show that a quarter of Republicans (along with about 60 percent of Democrats) think impeachment proceedings would be a good idea. Can you say lame duck? Quack.

So, will W nominate a conservative idealogue? A conservative intellectual? A right-wing evangelical extremist? A nutcase? There's even a chance that W will reach back to the politcal center (of the GOP) to attempt to regain some of his lost base. (Sure...)

Only time will tell.

All we know now is that he's promised to act quickly.

From the AP:

President Bush said Friday he will pick a successor to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a timely manner so her vacancy can be filled by the time the Supreme Court resumes work in the fall.
The White House said he would not decide before returning from Europe July 8.

Heading up the process in the Senate will be Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat. Radical right-wing conservatives are not exactly dancing in the aisles about that.
Again, from the AP:

Shortly after winning re-election last fall, Specter angered conservatives long suspicious of him by warning a newly re-elected President Bush that anti-abortion judges would have a difficult time winning Senate confirmation, given Democratic opposition.
The comment sparked an outcry from social conservatives, who waged a campaign to pressure Republican Senate leaders to deny Specter the judiciary committee chairmanship he'd long coveted.
Conservatives eager to see more like-minded judges elevated to the federal courts worry about Specter's moderate politics and maverick style, but Specter ultimately survived that challenge.

So who's it gonna be? No one outside of W's 'handlers' knows for sure. You KNOW there's already a list and you can bet it'll be someone pretty darn conservative. You can pretty well bet it will be an anti-abortion conservative. Neither prospect bodes well for an easy coast through the confirmation process. If the W-imbecile wants a justice in place for the start of the fall term, he'd better put his list of extremist conservative idealogue nutcases back in the drawer and look at his 'potentially confirmable' list.

The AP put together a list of possible candidates, including lengthy profiles, which I've edited way down to a few pertinent comments. Culled from The Chicago Sun-Times:

SAMUEL A. ALITO:
Alito, 55, has been a strong conservative voice in his 15 years on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which is considered to be among the most liberal. On one hot-button issue, Alito was a lone dissenter in a case striking down a Pennsylvania law requiring women seeking abortions to inform their husbands.

EMILIO GARZA:
Appointed a federal judge by President Reagan and elevated to the 5th Circuit in 1991, he has become best known for his views that Roe v. Wade should be overturned and that abortion regulation should be decided by state legislatures.

EDITH HOLLAN JONES:
In McCorvey v. Hill in 2004. Norma McCorvey was Roe in the landmark 1972 case that legalized abortion. Jones asked the court to overturn the ruling, arguing that abortion has a detrimental effect on women's long-term emotional state.

J. MICHAEL LUTTIG:
The 51-year-old Luttig is considered a solid conservative choice. He wrote the 1999 4th Circuit decision that struck down a key provision of 1994 Violence Against Women Act.

MICHAEL McCONNELL:
A respected conservative legal scholar, he opposed President Clinton's impeachment and [opposed] the Supreme Court's 2000 ruling in Bush v. Gore that made George W. Bush the president. Liberal interest groups are wary of McConnell because he is personally opposed to abortion.

JOHN G. ROBERTS:
Roberts, 50, has generally avoided weighing in on disputed social issues. Abortion rights groups, however, have maintained that he tried during his days as a lawyer in the first Bush administration to overturn Roe v. Wade.

J. HARVIE WILKINSON III:
He was part of a panel that ruled in 2003 that the government could indefinitely detain without legal rights American citizens captured overseas in the war on terror. The Supreme Court reversed that decision. He has less clear-cut views on the issue of reproductive rights.

Not a very cheerful list , is it?

If you're someone who considers proceses like this fun (or at least good theater), the next few months in Washington D.C. should be great sport.

Let the games begin!

And so it goes.