What came of the filibuster fight

I'm getting a late start to my day, so I presume that anybody reading this has already been deluged with the announcement of Bush's Supreme Court nominee. acbonin at dailyKos offers an insightful perspective, arguing that this choice represents Bush's desire to avoid a big show-down in the Senate over a real documented radical and a disinterest in revisiting the nuclear option.

You don't nominate John Roberts if you believe you can (and should) ram through a nominee with 50+1 votes. You only choose someone like Roberts if you believe you need as many votes and as smooth a ride as possible, and that you don't want to risk having 41 Senators block your nominee. Had the Republicans succeeded in executing the nuclear options, John Roberts would not have been the nominee. Period.

We may not know as much about him as we'd like, but we *do* know that he's not the kind of documented "originalist" or other controversial judicial philosopher that the right wing would have liked. Take your victories where you can.

Update: good speculative profile of the nominee at law.com (found via the Alas cheat sheet from earlier this month).