The Far Right is Out of Control!

So scream a variety of commenters at Captain's Quarters, and emailers at the Corner, and doubtless other sites as well. The last time we all heard this was during the Schiavo case, and I found it equally hysterical then.

Folks nobody turned on Harriet Miers because Jesus told them that Miers was the Anti-Christ. There was a good deal of concern that she'd be another O'Connor, turning over rights in the Constitution that no one else could find there. That's why the right wanted, and wants, someone with judicial experience and a set idea of how the Constitution works.

Call it a philosophical impasse: we rabid reactionaries don't believe in a "living constitution," because to us it's shorthand for "constitution that says whatever the hell we feel like making it say." We like a "dead constitution" that says what it says and doesn't say anything else. Then, if we don't like what it says, we can change it to what we want it to say, just as soon as we persuade everyone that it should say that. We consider this approach the more democratic one.


UPDATE: Boxing Alcibiades does the math:

With roughly a third of the active electorate in their party, the Republicans have to obtain only 18% of the "moderate" votes in order to get to 51%. In other words, it is possible for the Republicans to win (again, we're dealing with abstracts here, so this will vary by office), while losing the majority of the moderate vote.

Read the whole thing.