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A Competent Conservative (Roberts)
NY Times ^ | July 21, 2005 | DAVID BROOKS

Posted on 07/20/2005 9:31:45 PM PDT by neverdem

Roberts nomination, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee with the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee because this is the way government is supposed to work. President Bush consulted widely, moved beyond the tokenism of identity politics and selected a nominee based on substance, brains, careful judgment and good character.

I love thee because John G. Roberts is the face of today's governing conservatism.

Conservatives who came of age in the 1960's did so in an intensely ideological time when it was arduous to be on the right. People from that generation are more likely to have a dissident mentality, to want to storm the ramparts of the liberal establishment, to wade in to vanquish their foes in the war of ideas.

But John Roberts didn't enter Harvard until the fall of 1973. He missed all that sturm und drang, so he lacks, his former colleagues say, the outsider/dissident mentality. By the time he came of age, it was easier for a conservative to be comfortable in mainstream institutions, without feeling embattled or spoiling for a fight.

Roberts has chosen to live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, not the Virginia ones, where the political climate is 30 degrees to the right. He submitted his wedding notice to the wedding page of The New York Times, which is perceived as alien turf by ideological conservatives.

Roberts is a conservative practitioner, not a conservative theoretician. He is skilled in the technical aspects of the law, knowledgeable about business complexities (that's why he was hired to take on Microsoft) and rich in practical knowledge. He is principled and shares the conservative preference for judicial restraint, but doesn't think at the...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: bush; clinton; davidbrooks; democraticparty; georgewbush; hillaryclinton; hillaryrodhamclinton; johngrobertsjr; johnroberts; roberts; scotus
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1 posted on 07/20/2005 9:31:45 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem

Wow!


2 posted on 07/20/2005 9:39:00 PM PDT by aviator (Armored Pest Control)
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To: aviator

This guy is govenment man all the way. We need a real conservative originalist. Mr Robers is NOT that man.


3 posted on 07/20/2005 9:44:29 PM PDT by longun45 (There is no difference between a republocrat and a demican)
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To: aviator

This guy is govenment man all the way. We need a real conservative originalist. Mr Robers is NOT that man.


4 posted on 07/20/2005 9:45:01 PM PDT by longun45 (There is no difference between a republocrat and a demican)
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To: neverdem

Getting David Brooks to back Roberts is no endorsement.

That hack is the leftist's 'conservative' poodle, in the way that Safire was for years.


5 posted on 07/20/2005 9:46:34 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile (Kelo, Grutter, and Roe all have to go. Will Roberts get us there--don't know. No more Souters.)
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To: longun45

What do you mean by "government man?"


6 posted on 07/20/2005 9:47:56 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It!)
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To: Cicero; Coleus

If the faux Shakespeare style doesn't annoy, this is pretty good.


7 posted on 07/20/2005 9:48:54 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

The faux Shakespeare style annoys.


8 posted on 07/20/2005 9:51:12 PM PDT by thoughtomator (Abortion kills liberals)
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To: thoughtomator

What I was going to say...


9 posted on 07/20/2005 9:55:01 PM PDT by Republican Wildcat
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To: neverdem

I've never seen a piece about a "competent Liberal." I guess there isn't any.


10 posted on 07/20/2005 10:11:06 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (We did not lose in Vietnam. We left.)
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To: xzins
What do you mean by "government man?"

Seems longun45 is one of those embattled outsiders to whom government is evil regardless of who runs it. People like him feel that government serves no purpose, other than to guard our borders and repair the highways. They dont believe that those who serve in high government positions at major financial cost to themselves deserve any credit for their service. Roberts gave up an income of over a million dollars a year in a major law firm to go on the Federal bench at about 100K per year. But to the old time embattled outsider he is just a government hack who is out to make the outsiders life a living hell.

11 posted on 07/20/2005 10:20:26 PM PDT by Dave S
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To: neverdem

NY Times Kudos? Now I'm starting to worry. Ann was right!


12 posted on 07/20/2005 10:25:23 PM PDT by Rockitz (After all these years, it's still rocket science.)
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To: Dave S
"Seems longun45 is one of those embattled outsiders to whom government is evil regardless of who runs it. People like him feel that government serves no purpose, other than to guard our borders and repair the highways. They dont believe that those who serve in high government positions at major financial cost to themselves deserve any credit for their service. ... to the old time embattled outsider he is just a government hack who is out to make the outsiders life a living hell."

Non-government is better than conservative government, or rather it is the very definition of a pure conservative administration (making the term an oxymoron - while "liberal administration" is redundant).

However since government is here to stay, I'll settle for electing conservatives to office.

13 posted on 07/20/2005 10:59:44 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
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To: Rockitz
NY Times Kudos?

I'm not worried if it's from a Brooks or Tierney OpEd column. OpEd columns from Rich, Dowd, Krugman or Herbert, like masthead editorials from the New York Times Editorial Board, are almost always reliably dimissed 99.44 percent of the Time.

OpEd Contributors, like today's by Jeffrey Rosen, are more like ships passing in the night never to be paseed again, and may be useful for insights like the occasional Kristof or Friedman OpEd column.

N.B. Rosen has always struck me as a leftist.

14 posted on 07/20/2005 11:01:22 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: neverdem

paseed = passed


15 posted on 07/20/2005 11:03:45 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: thoughtomator; neverdem
It's BROWNING, not Shakespeare. If you're going to condemn it, which you should, at least get the original author correct. LOL

The poem is "HOW DO I LOVE THEE, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS" and he quote a lot of it, but changes things a bit.

16 posted on 07/20/2005 11:06:20 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: nopardons
It's BROWNING, not Shakespeare.

Thank you for the correction. My major was chemistry. My first degree was a B.S.

17 posted on 07/20/2005 11:13:45 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
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To: Rockitz

Brooks is the NYT's token Republican, who also writes for Weekly Standard. Not to worry.


18 posted on 07/20/2005 11:14:03 PM PDT by GOPrincess
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To: neverdem
My undergrad major was English. LOL

I wasn't trying to embarrass you, nor was I being petty, but such errors sort of drive me up a wall. Thanks for being so gallant and pleasant about it all.

19 posted on 07/20/2005 11:16:43 PM PDT by nopardons
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To: Dave S
People like him feel that government serves no purpose, other than to guard our borders and repair the highways.

That and the military. What else do you think they should be doing, giving welfare?

20 posted on 07/20/2005 11:17:54 PM PDT by RoyalsFan (Freepmail me if you want on my Kansas City Royals ping list)
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