The payoff

Bush can be as maddening as all get-out, from "compassionate conservatism" on down. Large among the irritants was the administration's support of Arlen "single bullet" Specter over a conservative for senate, and of course they're continuing the pattern with Mike "Clean Diamonds" DeWine here in Ohio.

But in the end, Specter not only didn't torpedo the process, but could conservatives have asked for much more than Roberts and Alito? Janice Rogers, sure, but if you had been given the choice beforehand between a certainty of Roberts and Alito and a wild-eyed fight for JRB, would you really hold out for JRB? Bush won a conservative hand. Now all we need wait is a few decades to see how their integrity holds out, or until the point becomes moot.