Bush Fulfills Campaign Promise

President Bush shakes hands with judge Samuel Alito after he announced him as his Supreme Court nominee in the Cross Hall of the White House Monday, Oct. 31, 2005 in Washington.

In his remarks at the 2004 Republican National Convention, President Bush said that he would "continue to appoint federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law."

Today, President Bush made good on his campaign promise.

This morning, Bush nominated Samuel A. Alito to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court.

Transcript

After the announcement, with the President at his side, Alito said:

Every time that I have entered the courtroom during the past 15 years, I have been mindful of the solemn responsibility that goes with service as a federal judge. Federal judges have the duty to interpret the Constitution and the laws faithfully and fairly, to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans, and to do these things with care and with restraint, always keeping in mind the limited role that the courts play in our constitutional system. And I pledge that if confirmed I will do everything within my power to fulfill that responsibility.


On the stump throughout the 2004 campaign, Bush pledged to fill Supreme Court vacancies with someone sharing the originalist judicial philosophy of Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas.

This morning, he did exactly that.

Alito is no stealth nominee. He has a long track record to satisfy conservatives and to cause liberals to panic.

Describing Alito, the President said:

He served in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel providing constitutional advice for the President and the executive branch. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan named him the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, the top prosecutor in one of the nation's largest federal districts, and he was confirmed by unanimous consent by the Senate. He moved aggressively against white-collar and environmental crimes, and drug trafficking, and organized crime, and violation of civil rights.

In his role, Sam Alito showed a passionate commitment to the rule of law, and he gained a reputation for being both tough and fair. In 1990, President Bush nominated Sam Alito, at the age of 39, for the United States Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit. Judge Alito's nomination received bipartisan support and he was again confirmed by unanimous consent by the United States Senate. Judge Alito has served with distinction on that court for 15 years and now has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years.

Judge Alito's reputation has only grown over the span of his service. He has participated in thousands of appeals and authored hundreds of opinions. This record reveals a thoughtful judge who considers the legal matter -- merits carefully and applies the law in a principled fashion. He has a deep understanding of the proper role of judges in our society. He understands that judges are to interpret the laws, not to impose their preferences or priorities on the people.

It's clear that President Bush has delivered on one of his campaign promises, one of the promises that won him the support of the majority of voters in the 2004 election, giving him four more years as President of the United States.

Nominating Alito is exactly what Bush needed to do.

There is no glimmer of appeasement in his choice, only commitment to the principles that Bush promised to adhere to as President.

He picked the most qualified individual. In Alito's nomination, Bush showed that he was no longer hung up on X and Y chromosomes, nor was he concerned with race. Instead of playing politics, he went back to the fundamental principles of judicial philosophy that he promised would guide him when choosing nominees for the courts.

Naturally, the Dems and their mouthpieces in the liberal media are aghast.

They've spent a full week pointing out that the Bush presidency was on life support. The White House was steeped in a thick malaise. The administration was paralyzed. Bush was a limp, lame duck.

Guess not.

I'm going to follow the lead of Patrick Fitzgerald, look to baseball, and use a few of his words from his Friday press conference to help me explain what the Alito nomination means.

"I've been trying to think about how to explain this, so let me try. I know baseball analogies are the fad these days. Let me try something.

"If you saw a baseball game and you saw a pitcher wind up and throw a fastball and hit a batter right smack in the head, and it really, really hurt them, you'd want to know why the pitcher did that. And you'd wonder whether or not the person just reared back and decided, 'I've got bad blood with this batter. He hit two home runs off me. I'm just going to hit him in the head as hard as I can.'

"You also might wonder whether or not the pitcher just let go of the ball or his foot slipped, and he had no idea to throw the ball anywhere near the batter's head. And there's lots of shades of gray in between."

The Dems may feel like they've been hit smack in the head with this nomination because of bad blood. That's not the case.

Bush didn't intend to hurt them. He was simply fulfilling an obligation to the American people. Unfortunately, the Dems and their special interests got beaned; but that's the way elections work. Kerry lost. The people wanted Bush to have the power to make judicial nominations, the type of nominations he vowed to make.

It is Bush's responsibility to carry out the will of the people. He did.

Of course, those on the Left are livid. They thought they had Bush weakened and all but defeated.

Some reaction from the Left:

"It is sad that the president felt he had to pick a nominee likely to divide America instead of choosing a nominee in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor, who would unify us. This controversial nominee, who would make the court less diverse and far more conservative, will get very careful scrutiny from the Senate and from the American people."
--Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

"President Bush put the demands of his far-right political base above Americans' constitutional rights and legal protections by nominating federal appeals court Judge Samuel Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor."
--Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People For the American Way.

"The nomination of Judge Alito requires an especially long, hard look by the Senate because of what happened last week to Harriet Miers. Conservative activists forced Miers to withdraw from consideration for this same Supreme Court seat because she was not radical enough for them. Now the Senate needs to find out if the man replacing Miers is too radical for the American people."
--Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Rather than selecting a nominee for the good of the nation and the court, President Bush has picked a nominee whom he hopes will stop the massive hemorrhaging of support on his right wing. This is a nomination based on weakness, not strength."
--Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass.

Today, Bush reminded Leftists that they are out of power. Conservatives are in control because the American people want it that way.
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The family of Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr., look on Monday, Oct. 31, 2005, as their father is nominated by President George W. Bush for Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. From left: daughter Laura, wife, Martha, and son, Phil.

I had to laugh when I saw this photo. As Judge Alito's family looks on, the image of Bill Clinton's portrait acts as a backdrop, like a family's departed patriarch. Spooky!

In a way, it further emphasizes the fact that the Dems are history and the future is in the hands of conservatives.