Russert on Roberts

Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press, recently sat down and offered some insight into Roberts and the fight ahead. Here are the important parts,

Tim Russert: A shrewd choice. He is a serious conservative – a sustentative conservative. Someone with a good temperament, someone with a good education.

And,

Russert: ...Roberts will be questioned closely on philosophy and ideology and the commerce clause and Roe versus Wade and some of those issues. I don’t think he’ll give very much, saying many of those cases may come before him, and he shouldn't comment.

And, if that’s the case, he should be easily confirmed. There are 55 Republicans – more than enough for confirmation. You only need five Democrats to prevent any filibuster and, based on my reporting over the last couple of days, if the vote were held today, he’d probably have close to 70 votes.

Talk about being beyond the filibuster! 70 votes?! Wow. Of course, that is if the vote were held today, which is to say that this number should change after the hearings - but it could go up a little bit. If he presents himself in a very proper, respectful manner, then it is possible that even with conservative views on many social issues, that he will gain the trust of some on the left; not the Boxers or Feingolds, but the Bidens and Clintons - near moderates, but not as centrist as the Liebermans and Byrds on some issues. Nonetheless, Russert is usually in the loop, so I will stick with his prediction of a "relatively" easy confirmation.

Full Article at MSNBC.