Supreme stupidity.

The meme (I hate the word "meme") coming from the right is that the canonization...ummm..."nomination" of John Roberts will be fought tooth and nail by the Democrats with smears, innuendo and obstruction. How DARE those mean old Democrats prejudge this dear, sainted man when they don't even know anything about him?

Well, projection ain't just for movie theatres. This is, after all, today's Republican Party. A party that lives and dies by the Rovian smear. A party so totally over the edge of indecency that if it WASN'T for smear and hypocrisy, they'd have no personality at all.

The Democrats, of course, haven't gone crazy with obstruction and smear. In fact, it is a demonstration of the effectiveness of the Republican spin machine that the Democrats are stereotyped as "obstructionists" when in reality they have spent five years in an almost totally supine position, rubber-stamping damned near anything the Republicans want without so much as a whimper of protest.

And the claim is directly in the teeth of the facts. With a few exceptions, the Democrats have said that they are withholding judgment because they don't know much about the guy.

The Republicans, meanwhile, don't know much about him either, but they aren't witholding anything. They have loudly and publicly declared that John Roberts is the most magnificent example of sober reasoning since Socrates walked the earth - despite not knowing a damned thing about him.

They are ASSUMING that the guy is EXACLTY what they want simply because Bush nominated him. But it's a sin and a crime for the Democrats to make assumptions on the very same grounds. Assume that he's a right-wing extremist? WHY? Just because Bush ALWAYS nominates right-wing extremists? Just because he has never appointed a moderate to anything in his whole life? Silly Democrats, to assume that Bush will behave the way he always behaves - what's wrong with them?

The Republicans, like the Democrats, assume that John Roberts is a right-wing ideologue. That's WHY they favor him. But they say that it is wrong for the Democrats to make the very same assumptions. The Democrats - against all sense - are expected to assume that he's a centrist.

And according to the Republicans, not only should they assume that Bush nominated a centrist for the first time in his life - but they should accept the nominee's refusal to answer questions, so they can never find out for sure! They should accept a blank slate. They should not only assume that he is a moderate, but he must not be required to demonstrate it. Instead - by some twisted reasoning - it is supposed to to be incumbent on the Democrats to PROVE THAT HE ISN'T.

Which is, of course, the very definition of ass-backwards. Is there any other situation where the employer is expected to start by ASSUMING that an applicant is the right guy for the job, and the applicant can get the job just by refusing to reveal anything about himself?

America is expected to accept a blank slate of a candidate when giving someone a lifetime appointment to a position that can change history.

Yeah, that makes LOADS of sense.