There was some concern, all of it justified, that Dems would lose focus on the White House scandal once a Supreme Court nominee was announced. I’m pleased to report that Dems are keeping their eyes on the prize.
Less than 15 hours after President Bush announced that John Roberts would be his nominee for the Supreme Court, leading Democrats stood before a bank of television cameras Wednesday and criticized the president. But their ire had nothing to do with Roberts.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) assailed the president for failing to punish Karl Rove for his alleged involvement in disclosing the name of a CIA operative.
Even though Roberts is considered too conservative by many Democrats to succeed Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the court, the nominee does not stir the same partisan passions as Rove does. And while Democrats vow to vigorously question Roberts during his confirmation hearings, they appear to be saving their fury for Rove, Bush’s top political adviser and White House deputy chief of staff.
“We will continue to look for some answers to what role Mr. Rove takes and whether there is a presidential endorsement of his role,” said Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a frequent critic of the Bush administration. “We are not going to settle for a dismissal. We will keep looking.”
This really has very little to do with an internal debate over how aggressively Dems should approach the Roberts nomination. Even if Dems were intent on trying to defeat Roberts, most of those efforts would go towards the confirmation hearings — which are still weeks away.
Instead, this is about Dem focus. They’ve learned valuable lessons from the recent past and they fully appreciate the fact that Rove must be the center of attention right now.
In fact, they’re putting it in writing. Yesterday morning, the Senate Dem leadership issued talking points to the caucus, urging them to continue to focus their energy on Rove, not Roberts.
“A Supreme Court nominee will not distract the country from the growing credibility problem at the White House,” Democrats were told to echo, according to a copy of the leadership memo obtained by Roll Call. “If Bush wants to know what Karl Rove and Scooter Libby did or did not do, he should call them into his office and ask them. It’s time for President Bush to show some leadership.”
Call me crazy, but I think Dems are getting better at this game.