All I'll Say About John Roberts

... is that it is a shrewd move. Roberts should be conservative enough to satisfy the GOP's religious conservative voters, but he's very mainstream, and with a recent overwhelming confirmation behind him, he'll be tough for the Democrats to block. His appointment would move the Court to the right while avoiding an all-out war. There will be a lot of noise and dirt from the left wing of the Democratic Party, but nothing compared to nominating someone such as Michael Luttig or Janet Rogers Brown or Edith Jones.

That leaves Bush lots of room on the expected 2nd appointment - assuming Rehnquist must step down sooner or later. Depending on how the political terrain looks at that time, he can tack further right, with one of the real hard core conservatives named above, or come back with Gonzalez.

Beyond that, others will have far more to say than I.