Anne's Rovian Strategy?

Anne Coulter may or may not think Judge Roberts will make a good SCOTUS Justice. She sure says she doesn't think so. But who really knows? One thing's for certain, if her complaints are taken at face value, Roberts's confirmation has perhaps become even more certain. Surely, many folks -- the Moveon Left for instance -- are likely to view Anne's complaints as an indication that, as bad as the Roberts nomination might seem at the moment, things could be worse. Better, they might conclude, to confirm Roberts than to give Bush a second bite of the apple -- a shot at nominating a replacement judge who would pass Anne's test. Of course, heavily figuring into this calculaus would be the fact that Borking a second consecutive nominee in a Republican Senate would be even harder than Borking the first. Especially so with the so-called 'nuclear option' in play.

So what's Anne really up to with this piece? Is she greasing the skids for Roberts's confirmation by attempting to goad the opposition into concluding the enemy of their enemy must be their friend . . . or at least a bit better than any likely alternative? Or does she have a legitimate beef with Roberts? Given Anne's level of smarts, her respect for certain individuals who strongly recommend Roberts (e.g., Starr), and her willingness to look a bit frothy at the mouth in the service of her principles, I wouldn't at all be surprised if she's running some sort of interference. It's all so very Rovian. And by that, I mean tactically flawless.

Of course, there's always the possibility that we're looking at a strategy spawned by the Evil One himself. Forward a loss-leading nomination and grudgingly allow the nominee to be Borked by filibuster. Follow up with a nomination of Edith Jones or other so-called extremist nominee and couple the nomination with a threat to this time use the nuclear option if an up-or-down vote is again refused.

Now I see why DailyKos is so popular -- tin-foil hat theories are kinda fun.