The Supreme Court of the United States

When Chief Justice John Roberts came before the Senate for confirmation as Chief Justice, the following statements were made about him on the floor of the U.S. Senate:

"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge. He is humble, he is personally decent, and he appears to be respectful of different points of view. It is absolutely clear to me that Judge Roberts truly loves the law. He couldn't have achieved his excellent record as an advocate before the Supreme Court without that passion for the law, and it became apparent to me in our conversation that he does, in fact, deeply respect the basic precepts that go into deciding 95 percent of the cases that come before the Federal court -- adherence to precedence, a certain modesty in reading statutes and constitutional text, a respect for procedural regularity, and an impartiality in presiding over the adversarial system. All of these characteristics make me want to vote for Judge Roberts."

Who spoke these words? First term, very junior Senator Barack Obama. (For confirmation of this, click here.)

Then, why did Senator Obama vote against this brilliant, supremely qualified candidate? Ideology. Plain and simple ideology. Senator Obama has a litmus test for candidates to the Court. He didn't respect that elections have consequences and that the President of the United States selects the nominees and that the Senate, under Article II of the Constitution, should only "advise and consent." He voted against John Roberts simply on the grounds that Roberts might be conservative.

Contrast this position to that of John McCain. When President Clinton was in office, he sent two very liberal, but qualifed candidates to the Senate for confirmation to the Supreme Court. Those two people were Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Both Ginsburg and Breyer sailed through the Senate confirmation hearings and Senator McCain voted "yes" on both. Does this mean Senator McCain liked these two. NO WAY. It means that he respected the integrity of the process and found the two candidates to be "qualified" and he did his constitutional duty.

Why do I blog about this? Because, in my mind, it highlights a fundamental difference between liberals and conservatives. Liberals put their idealogical world view before the good of the nation. They will routinely make outlandish statements about Bush and conservatives that undermine the heart of our democracy. How many times have you heard the liberals say that, "Bush stole the election." There is no evidence to support that. It is pure hyperbole designed to rally their side and to undermine the President of the United States. It is wrong and I reject it.

Barack Obama should have voted for John Roberts (and Samuel Alito). But, his radical, liberal, leftist perspective made that impossible. He is the most liberal member of the Senate. His voting record is more liberal than that of liberal icon Ted Kenneday. America is not ready for this radical lunge to the left.

Senator McCain is a mainstream conservative and he will win this election!