The Silly Season

So President Bush has selected John Roberts as his Supreme Court nominee. Some Democrats are actually praising the man:

(David) Boies called Roberts "a brilliant lawyer, a brilliant judge...a very careful judge, a thoughtful judge.

"I would agree with what the president said earlier," Boies said. "He is a decent man. I think everybody who knows him likes him. He is a conservative, but we were not going to get anybody who wasn't a conservative from this president.

Even Chuck Schumer said, "There's no question that Judge Roberts has outstanding legal credentials and an appropriate legal temperament and demeanor."

But it's not all sweetness and light. What does MoveOn, who claims to have bought and paid for the Democratic Party think? Here's a sampling.

"Roberts has been associated with some of the most fringe and extreme views of the Republican Party for years."

He compensates polluters, believes Roe v. Wade should be overturned and "won the case that gagged doctors so they could not even discuss abortion with their patients."

"He opposed clean air rules and worked to help coal companies strip mine mountaintops. He tried to stop Congress from strengthening the Voting Rights Act. He worked to keep injured workers from receiving disability."

Roberts has "regularly been associated with corporate, far right legal groups."

"Instead of a mainstream jurist with a distinguished career as someone who protects the rights of the American people, Bush chose another right-wing crony."

This promises to be a real test of how much control the far-left really exerts over the Democratic Party.