More on the great parlor game

Terry Eastland of the Weekly Standard on why President Bush should nominate strong conservatives for any Supreme Court vacancies that arise, and why he shouldn’t nominate White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. My guess, for what it’s worth, is that Bush will nominate someone conservative enough to sucker the Democrats into bad behavior but not conservative enough to enable the Democrats to gain traction with those outside of their core constituencies once they engage in such behavior. For example, if Bush chooses someone from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, I would expect him to select the older, more judicious-sounding Harve Wilkinson instead of the younger, sharp-tongued Scalia disciple Michael Luttig. But, because the Fourth Circuit is the most conservative circuit, and thus something of a lightning rod, Bush may well look elsewhere to find a conservative nominee.