It doesn't get much attention these days, but the next president could reshape the judiciary.
Supreme Court openings are all but guaranteed, and that's just the start: 44 trial and appellate federal judicial vacancies already await filling. There will be more.
Consider this: President Bush has placed 316 judges on the bench during his two terms. One out of three federal judges now owes a lifetime-tenured job to the current president. Whoever replaces Bush will be likewise recasting courthouses, top to bottom.
"The proper role of the judiciary has become one of the defining issues of this presidential election," Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in May. "It will fall to the next president to nominate hundreds — hundreds — of qualified men and women to the federal courts, and the choices we make will reach far, far into the future."
Democrats in the Senate have blocked many of President Bush's nominees, playing politics with their role of consent and confirm.
I say it is time to turn the tables.
The other day, I said "they" (meaning Democrats) "are the enemy." That's a harsh statement, but after being demonized and having my philosophies and ideas trashed for the past eight years, "enemy" is a polite term. So, if Obama does become president, it's time for Republicans to give him the same courtesy Democrats showed to President Bush; that is to say, none. No hard left nominees. No Ruth Bader Ginsbergs.
I don't know if John McCain can pull this thing out or not. If he can't, I'm in full scorched earth mode. I wasn't called a gold-plated bitch on wheels for nothing.
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