Let George Do It!!

Rob McKay Sat Jul 9, 3:38 PM ET

The Enemy of Our Enemy is Our Friend: Why Democrats Should Go Along with Gonzales on the Supreme Court.

In a matter of weeks, Bush is likely to nominate Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. The appointment of this staunchly conservative jurist, who’s also a self-proclaimed evangelical Christian, could be the best news the Democrats have heard since November 1st. In fact, getting Gonzales on the bench could be for us a power move.

Well, first, consider our options. The fact of the matter is that Bush gets to hand pick a nominee to replace O’Connor. Someone nominated by Bush is going to wind up on the Supreme Court, period. If not Gonzales, we’d likely be dealing with a nominee who’s in ideological lockstep with Scalia and Thomas. Though all of our options are ominous and it’s no fun to admit, we could do far worse than Gonzales.

Secondly, consider Gonzales’ fiercest enemies. The people who hate Gonzales the most are not Ralph Neas and Ralph Nader' . Rather, conservative powerbrokers like Focus on the Family and the Free Congress Foundation oppose Gonzales for being soft on core “culture war” issues like abortion, gay marriage, affirmative action and civil liberties. Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the Eagle Forum, calls Gonzales a "supremacist judge” who would “legislate from the bench.”

What most outrages Schlafly and other conservative leaders is that they believe Gonzales would allow Roe v. Wade' to remain the law of the land.