As Am I

If only the President had made the good nomination on 3 October, rather than nominating Harriet Miers at that time. Judge Alito might have had his hearings by now.

AP: Bush Disappointed by Alito Timeline---

MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina - President Bush promoted Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito on Saturday, while expressing disappointment that he won't get a new justice on the high court by Christmas as he had hoped.

Senate confirmation hearings for Alito are set to begin Jan. 9, with the intention of a final confirmation vote on Jan. 20. Bush had called for a pre-Christmas confirmation.

Several Republican officials said the president was considerably more insistent in a telephone conversation Thursday with Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa.

In a call placed from Air Force One, Bush told Specter that he definitely wanted Alito confirmed by year's end, but the senator replied that wasn't possible, officials said.

In his radio broadcast, Bush said that when Alito was nominated to the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1990, he received strong bipartisan support in the Senate and was confirmed by unanimous consent.

"He has served on that court with distinction for 15 years, and now has more prior judicial experience than any Supreme Court nominee in more than 70 years," the president said.

You would think Arlen Specter could at least try to do something for the President who (stupidly and misguidedly) backed Specter against a good Conservative in the 2004 Republican primaries. But no, Arlen prefers to remain a R.I.N.O.