Right Side of the Rainbow

The Hill:

Progress for America (PFA), a group that is quickly becoming the conservative counterpart to liberal 527 groups such as America Coming Together (ACT), pledged yesterday to spend at least $18 million on the expected fight to replace William Rehnquist, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The amount that PFA intends to spend on the court fight alone is more than half of the total funds ACT expects to raise for the 2006 election cycle. During the 2004 election cycle, ACT raised more money than any other 527 group, according to PoliticalMoneyLine.

[...]

Another conservative group, the Judicial Confirmation Network, has budgeted $3 million on a Senate battle to fill the next court vacancy. As a result, conservative groups are expected to spend more than $20 million to counter groups on the left that are expected to launch a coordinated effort to block President Bush's nominee, who is likely to be conservative.

In due course, groups on both sides will spend $100 million or more on each Supreme Court vacancy. And eventually we'll see campaign style television advertisements in which the nominee himself appears and pledges to vote one way or the other on issues that will come before the Court. I can even envision the day when people who want to sit on the Court form a political action committee, develop a donor base and launch a campaign for appointment.

And why not? With the Court having converted itself into an alternative legislative forum, we have every reason to treat the candidates for it in the same way we treat candidates for any important political office. Still and yet, the democratic impulse in this country is strong, and the people will find a way to make their voices heard.

In the meantime, get a load of this:

Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, which is considered one of the principal organizers of liberal opposition to Bush's judicial nominees, said the millions that conservatives have budgeted indicate that they expect the president to make an inflammatory selection.

"Eighteen million dollars is an extraordinary amount of money," Neas said. "They must be expecting an extremely controversial nominee if they need to spend that money on the confirmation process. It's a troubling indication that they expect the president to choose confrontation over consensus and put forth a controversial nominee."

What kind of crazy ass pablum is that? Of course the president's conservative supporters expect him to choose confrontation over consensus; after all, by "consensus" Mr. Neas means a nominee acceptable to the left. But does he truly think that's why conservatives voted for Mr. Bush?

Hello?