Wanting War Over Judicial Nominees

I continue to read reactions to the Miers nominations with a sense of disgust. The nomination certainly seems to have brought out the worst in people. I agree with Lorrie Byrd at Polipundit that sadly the debate has turned from real issues to a great deal of sniping and insulting.

The Miers nomination has shown just how complicated the political landscape is in the U.S. The media loves to paint a simple picture, using red and blue to make things clearly black and white. But the shades of gray have always been there. As an example, take the view of Polipundit, who has now switched his position and opposes Miers:

Some will argue that defeating Miers in the Senate would be politically damaging to the GOP. But it would be worse for Miers to be confirmed and become another O’Connor. Miers’ confirmation would be terribly demoralizing to conservatives like me, who donate thousands of hard-earned dollars to Republican candidates every year. We did not help elect a Republican president, and 55 Republican senators, so that we could get another O’Connor on the Court.

A coalition of, say 30 conservative Republican senators, and 21 liberal Democrat senators, could stop Miers from being confirmed. And so they should. Mushy moderates, like the Gang of 14, are the biggest supporters of this nomination; it’s about time that principled ideologues, on both sides of the aisle, asserted their supremacy.

Can you imagine how messy this would be if it actually came to pass? The 21 most liberal Democratic senators band together with the 30 most conservative Republican ones to stop the nomination. OK, then what? So that Bush would take that as a cue to nominate a "true conservative", the Democrats filibuster, and the Republicans scramble to go nuclear? Clearly the White House feels that in the end, the filibuster would hold and the more conservative nomination would ultimately fail.

The more conservative side of the Republican party seems itching for a fight. So much so that they suggest working with the very people they want to fight, just so the fight can occur. I can't believe that this is approach is good for the country.