Kevin:
I don't think John Fund started Americans for Better Justice (look at the board of advisors - Fund is not one), but only referred to it in his morning editorial.

Hmmmm.

"Americans for Better Justice"?

Is that a paraphrase of "Zig! For Great Justice!"?

Will John Fund now use as his rallying cry "All your Courts are belong to us!"?

The Miers issue has become a goalpost one: everyone eventually follows the quarterback on the field or they can easily be seen confusedly running in the wrong direction on the field.

I am, however, extremely concerned that Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and a few others among conservative media are now regarded as quarterbacks. As in, hardly.

Unfortunately, once the push begins, people fall into place afterward.

I've never been so much as a Miers enthusiast (and certainly not one who follows along without questioning) but this is really a case of a moderate vs. the media. So-called conservative media personalities are not conservatives so much as they are media personalities with access. Sad commentary on conservativism as of this date but on the positive, constructive side of things, at least there's this opportunity to get all this out of the way before another year advancing toward the next Presidential election. But I do believe that it's time for many voters to start questioning, or question more astutely, how they allow thier opinions to be influenced and by whom, because I'm intensely disappointed in Limbaugh and Coulter, specifically, in their denigration of the Miers nomination.

Hmmmm.

@ -S-

Sorry but I think you're misreading things. The pundits *followed*, they did not lead. The opposition punditry only firmed up after several days of growing opposition by conservatives.

As for the quarterback metaphor, let's face facts here. Bush has been a disaster for conservatives. What we're seeing now is a rift between conservatives that are willing to "go along to get along" and conservatives that aren't. I'm one of the latter.

The issues we're dealing with will be with us for decades to come, as they have been with us for decades past. IMHO one of the reasons why conservativism hasn't advanced one single millimeter, and it has not, is because conservatives have bought into the viewpoint that they must be accomodating. That conservatives are allowed at the table only under duress, and that we're really not mainstream. I believe this is absolutely wrong.

This is the reason why Arlen Specter was re-elected, and Pat Toomey was shafted. This is why the "squishy" senators are still in their offices, even after long long years of obstruction.

Either conservatism ascends to the next level, real actual control of the party and a drive to actually accomplish it's objectives, or else it is time for conservatism to die an ignoble death. The current status quo is an unstable entity entirely because it depends on conservatives accepting and being relegated to a minor role. To the traditional Republicans; conservatives are good for milking for campaign funds, but little else.

The time for this to end is now.

And the pundits have nothing to do with any of this. You, above all else, should know that conservatives are not driven by pundits. Pundits, at best, echo what conservatives are thinking.

We blogged this item this AM over at our joint, and FWIW "Americans for Better Justice" was started by David Frum, who got together with some of his friends. You can find his comments over at NRO, in his diary.