Catching on to the Liberal Agenda

Happily, this piece in The Washington Times indicates that savvy conservatives are aware of the liberal effort (having failed so far to find a way to wage an attack from the left)to split the right over the Roberts nomination.

When this piece in The LA Times appeared last week, it was clear that the story had been called to the paper's attention by someone who wasn't friendly to Roberts, given the eminently forseeable (negative) reaction on the part of some conservatives (presumably, some of Roberts' strongest supporters) . Interestingly, the only people quoted in The LA Times story were "Jean Dubofsky, lead lawyer for the gay rights activists and a former Colorado Supreme Court justice," "Suzanne B. Goldberg, a staff lawyer for New York-based Lambda, a legal services group for gays and lesbians" and "Walter A. Smith Jr., then head of the pro bono department at Hogan & Hartson." At the time, it seemed clear that none of these people -- with the possible exception of the latter -- were likely to share Judge Roberts' approach to jurisprudence.

And what today's Washington Times piece tells us -- as The LA Times did not -- is that Mr. Smith, in his current job, has aligned his group on some issues with People for the American Way (PFAW), an organization that has opposed John Roberts' from the moment of his nomination. Wouldn't it be interesting to ask Mr. Smith if he supports the Roberts nomination?

So all in all, it should be clear that the Romer story wasn't put out there by anyone friendly to Judge Roberts or his nomination -- and conservatives should be wary of allowing themselves to be used by those on the left who oppose him.