The reasonable man?

It was probably Miers herself that proposed the scenario unfolding now: she would sacrifice herself, serve her President as a distraction from the hypocrisy that was filling the White House faster than the flood waters had overwhelmed New Orleans, and the worst case scenario would be that she, a close friend, would end up on the Supreme Court.

If all worked as planned, however, Miers would be the lamb that made way for the lion: Alito - by all reports 'a nice guy', a 'very respectful, decent man', yet someone who somehow found a way to argue that wives need to notify their husbands if they choose to have an abortion, and that machine guns are a god-given right.

Alito finds precedent, of course, respects the law, but ultimately does so in service of an inflexible mind. Alito -offered in replacement of the first woman to ever serve on the Supreme Court: a woman who called the notion that wives had to notify their husbands if they wanted an abortion, "repugnant".

Can Alito explain these bizarre decisions, in light of his so-called respect for the Constitution, and the importance of established precendent? Given his brilliant mind, and reputation for honesty, that should not be a problem. If there is an explanation, wholly consistent with the reputed respect for the Constitution that the right wing's apologists whitewash over every discussion of judicial philosophy, then he may be confirmable.

More likely he will suddenly lose his ability to speak: become tongues-tied (a related but often unreported variation of the 'speaking in tongues' phenomena) and will only regain the ability to converse in everyday English after he is confirmed.