[DCPatriot]

I would have rather the nominee been Condi Rice.

The fact that she donated money to Bentsen and Gore shows ignorance on the part of this Administration...or else they purposely don't want a staunch conservative in the slot.

[writmeister]

Not to defend this nomination because I think it is awful, I would not over-read the 1988 donations to Bentsen and Gore.

In 1988, Texas was still a predominantly Democrat state and Bentsen was the party-king. Bentsen also had a pro-business voting record and support from most high-dollar attorneys.

Also, the Gore who ran in Texas in 1988 was unlike the Gore of the 1990s and 2000s. Gore ran in the Democrat primary as a social conservative. I'm sure he was a total phony in 1988 - but who knew then.

[BibChr]

I know what you mean, but a bloodless statement of the facts would show that I donated to McGovern and voted for Carter. (ONCE!)

Now I'm a religious hard-righter.

People do change for the better. Not often -- but it happens!

Dan
(c8

[Hurricane Andrew]

The fact that she donated money to Bentsen

Well, in all fairness, at the time Texas was run by Democrats, so if you wanted things done, who are you going to cozy up to? Also, Sen. Bentsen was more conservative than at least 40 of the present Republican Senators. Not that that's saying a whole lot...

The Gore thing does bother me though. Perhaps a personal connection there as well? Time will tell.

At the end of the day, I couldn't care less if she is conservative, liberal, or even French for that matter. I care if she's a textualist in the Scalia sense. Perhaps not being a judge *might* turn out to be a positive in this regard? Dare I say that "lawyers" are more reliant on the letter of the law rather than trying to "interpret" it? I'm not happy right now, but I'm looking for a bridge to jump from either....at least not yet.