Over at Tom Engelhardt's TomDispatch.com he rails today at the Democrats for their failure to rail on John Roberts. It's the old story again, he suggests, of weak Democrats being afraid to stand up for their beliefs. Democrats after all should be outraged that Roberts went down to Florida to give advice to the Republicans in 2000. That makes him a partisan gunslinger, doesn't it?

I sent Tom a friendly note this morning:

Tom,

Question. You keep hammering the Democratic Party. Do you really think the Democrats are the problem? Or is it just easier to focus anger on them. The problem is that Americans are conservative. Roberts seems conservative.

You can get them [Americans] angry over Scalia or Thomas when they seem radical.

But conservatives who don't seem radical go over well with Americans.

That's the problem.

Am I wrong?

Nathan M Williams - 7/31/2005

Opposing Roberts in a very visible way could be a substantially unpopular move.