Proving (for those foolish enough to doubt) that George Bush’s heart was in the right place even if his Miers pick was severely flawed, the President today named Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. I’ve spent a good bit of the day fielding interviews, and Vanguard PAC is already mobilizing for the fight.

And a fight there will surely be. “Scalito” is anathema to the left, with the most obvious anti-abortion record of any Appeals Court judge and a solid conservative judicial philosophy demonstrated in votes on thousands of opinions and 300 personally-authored decisions from his Bush Sr.-appointed seat (in 1990) on the Third Circuit. Note that he was unanimously confirmed to that seat, and to a U.S. Attorney position before that. He will not face similar treatment now.

The President has picked the fight we asked for. Conservatives promised they’d fight to the death for him if he did. It’s time to put up or shut up. We will be doing more than our part, and we’ll be watching closely those who don’t.

One last note: what’s with the idiots trying to make some racial thing out of the “Scalito” nickname, a moniker (obviously) earned by Alito’s fidelity to the Constitution as modeled by Justice Antonin Scalia? Anyone who thinks this is racial has a chip on their shoulder as big as Sicily; and anyone on our side who’s adopting the Democrats’ race-baiting tactics needs to stop it.

For more commentary, including Vanguard PAC’s press release, visit our main site, and while you’re there, please sign our petition urging confirmation. Everyone needs to do their part.

Our travel schedule is playing havoc with this blog. But here’s some catch-up:

On Miers:
Rod D. Martin: Harriet Miers, Savior of the Bush Presidency
George Neumyer: The Unoriginalist
Also, great columns by Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan

On Rosa Parks:
Rod D. Martin, The Bus Stops Here

On the Clinton Library visit (by Kathleen Willey, Candice Jackson, Juanita Broaddrick, Eric Jackson and Rod Martin):
Human Events: Broaddrick and Willey at the Clinton Library: Bill and Hillary Promote Violence Against Women

Since Vanguard PAC announced its position on Harriet Miers — which we note is subject to future modification should there ever be any evidence one way or the other regarding what the President’s nominee believes — a lot of words have been written by very smart people. I’d like to cherry-pick a few of these and present them for your consideration.

David Frum: Miers “An Unforced Error”

National Review Editors: “A Missed Opportunity”

Washington Times: Christ Changed Miers’ Worldview

Rush Limbaugh: Pick Made From Weakness

David Limbaugh: Disappointed, But Still Hopeful

Bill Kristol: Disappointed, Depressed and Demoralized

Fred Barnes: The Nominee You Know

George Will: It Might Be Very Important Miers Not Be Confirmed

James Dobson: Cautiously Optimistic

We left this weekend thrilled with our victory on Chief Justice Roberts, for whom Vanguard PAC mobilized tens of thousands of Americans to sign petitions, make phone calls to fence-sitting Senators, and otherwise actively support. We had a big week, and we got a lot done.

Sadly, we came back to the President’s nomination of Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O’Connor.

Ms. Miers is a fine person by all accounts, and we stress that George Bush has done nothing to merit anything but our trust.

But conservatives deserved an appointee who’s outstanding accomplishments included something more than serving on the White House staff, becoming the first woman president of the Dallas Bar, and giving money to Al Gore.

There are countless brilliant conservative legal minds we could enthusiastically support. Many of them have long, outstanding paper trails precisely because George Bush put them on America’s highest courts.

Why he didn’t nominate one of them boggles the mind.

We have the votes to confirm. We have a largely conservative public who expects to see their leaders stand up and do what they were elected to do.

It may take years for us to see whether Harriet Miers is what the President thinks she is. For that reason alone we deserved better. For everyone who’s stood by this President through thick and thin, year after hard, hard year, we deserved better.

Vanguard PAC will not oppose Miers, but we will not support her. We very much wish we could. And until we have some reason to change our mind, we encourage other conservatives to join us in that stand.

Click here for Vanguard PAC’s press release on the Miers appointment.