Yr of WH Work To Sell Roberts to Conservatives(makes case against him now)

Contrast what was said to "social conservatives" for the past year, and what Fred Thompson and others are saying now, to a different audience, about Roberts.


New York Times:
A Year of Work to Sell Roberts to Conservatives
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
Published: July 22, 2005


WASHINGTON, July 21 - For at least a year before the nomination of Judge John G. Roberts to the Supreme Court, the White House was working behind the scenes to shore up support for him among its social conservative allies, quietly reassuring them that he was a good bet for their side in cases about abortion, same-sex marriage and public support for religion.

When the White House began testing the name of Judge Roberts on a short list of potential nominees, many social conservatives were skeptical. In hearings for confirmation to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he had called the original abortion rights precedent "the settled law of the land" and said "there is nothing in my personal views that would prevent me from fully and faithfully applying that precedent."...

***

But with a series of personal testimonials about Judge Roberts, his legal work, his Roman Catholic faith, and his wife's public opposition to abortion, two well-connected Christian conservative lawyers - Leonard Leo, chairman of Catholic outreach for the Republican Party, and Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of an evangelical Protestant legal center founded by Pat Robertson - gradually won over most social conservatives to nearly unanimous support, even convincing them that the lack of a paper trail was an asset that made Judge Roberts harder to attack....

***

They made their case by recounting the briefs Judge Roberts had filed as lawyer for Republican administrations, including one arguing against the validity of the abortion rights precedent Roe v. Wade and another in support of allowing religious ceremonies at public school events.

Although Judge Roberts said at his confirmation hearings that his work as a legal advocate did not necessarily reflect his own views, Mr. Sekulow said he knew that Judge Roberts's heart was in it. "He doesn't argue just to argue," Mr. Sekulow said....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/22/politics/politicsspecial1/22lobby.html

stealth, behind the scenes, with the media given the impression that there were many possible candidates reviewed only recently when in facts the process was well under way in the dark, where the cockroaches,the energy panel, the cheneys of the world scurry and hide.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

is mentioned in the article:

"For example, Mr. Leo told allies, Judge Roberts had supported the administration's argument that executive privilege protected Vice President Dick Cheney's meetings about energy policy, and he had dissented against interpreting the Constitution's interstate commerce clause broadly enough to allow the federal endangered species act to protect a certain California toad."

Was it a charade even to the day of the nomination, when two female candidates were leaked as front-runners? And earlier, when Gonzales was touted as a possibility?

It looked like one to me at the time, too.

Bush has a juvenile love for springing surprises. His puppetmasters Rove and Cheney feed that unpleasant aspect of his personality with stunts like this, leaking that it was the woman from New Orleans and telling Specter to put her appeals court confirmation testimony up on the Senate Judiciary Committee website. After the announcement I have no doubt that Bush was hopping up and down with glee and grinning like a lobotomy patient at fooling the media.

.. and people haven't a CLUE that this appointment should NOT NOT NOT be political!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are too busy snapping up the latest Kelly Clarkson CD, and wondering WHO will be the NEXT American Idol!!! SOmetimes I believe the morons, who are America, deserve the shitty government they get, and I'm sorry for those of us who are paying attention.

we need to spread this meme about Roberts ASAP