Why are cons chickening out of their big national conversation on judges?

[Thom Little]

This week's revelation that Judge Samuel Alito is on record, as early as 1985, insisting that he "personally believes very strongly" that there is no constitutional right to abortion should have conservative pundits and thinkers jigging for joy. After all, they claim that they're dying to have this big, defining, national conversation about the role of judges; about the need to repair the damage wrought by renegade liberal activists who've been trampling all over the Constitution for decades. So, here is Sam Alito, unequivocally opening the door to that national conversation with his personal assertion that Roe is bad law.

And what are Alito's supporters, and Alito himself, doing? Backpedaling so fast, all you can see is the blur of their lost integrity.

.......

Conservatives have argued that there is a double standard at work here, that Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed despite her "radical" espousal of abortion, polygamy, and other mad notions. But of course, besides the fact that so many of the claims made about Ginsburg's views are false or distorted, Ginsburg was willing to discuss her views of abortion and women's rights quite openly. Also, her views were in line with the law. What part of her confirmation hearing makes it acceptable to retreat to smoke signals when the nominee opposes Roe?

A few weeks back, I optimistically suggested that the death of the Harriet Miers nomination also spelled the death of coded speech about abortion. I asserted that the GOP base that had scuttled her confirmation would no longer accept coded messages about Roe. But here's the flip side: Movement conservatives will no longer accept coded messages about nominees and Roe, but they are not brave enough to send clear ones when it matters the most.



http://www.slate.com/id/2130599/