Those prickly "culture-of-life" types--it's always gotta be SOMETHING with them

Pity Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. With Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation from the Supreme Court, Gonzales' name is being bandied about as a possible replacement.

Gonzales, you may recall, has been with Bush since his Texas days. As State Attorney General, he greased the process by which Governor Bush was able to deny--gleefully, in some cases --clemency appeals from death row inmates under all but the most extremely narrow conditions.

And later, as White House counsel, Gonzales authored a notorious memorandum arguing that the Bush administration use of torture on terrorism suspects held in US custody was legally defensible.

(And just to ice the cake, he's in Baghdad this weekend on a "surprise" visit to the troops.)

So. Let's re-cap: He's pro-death penalty. He's pro-torture. He's pro-war. He's demonstrated almost fanatical dedication to Bush. Sounds like the GOP trifecta. You'd think he'd be the darling of the conservatives. You'd think they'd greet the prospect of his nomination to the highest court in the land with cheers.

You'd think wrong, bucko.

Sure, executions, torture, war--these are all good merit badges to have on your sash. But it's not enough. This, from the NYTimes, courtesy of Americablog:

Late last week, a delegation of conservative lawyers led by C. Boyden Gray and former Attorney General Edwin Meese III met with the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., to warn that appointing Mr. Gonzales would splinter conservative support.

And Paul M. Weyrich, a veteran conservative organizer and chairman of the Free Congress Foundation, said he had told administration officials that nominating Mr. Gonzales, whose views on abortion are considered suspect by religious conservatives, would fracture the president's conservative backers.

But of course, in all fairness to conservatives, not all of them are worried that Bush will make a choice insufficiently to their ideological liking. As the Times continues:

Members of Congress and conservatives close to the White House said that they were confident that Mr. Bush would use the first Supreme Court vacancy of his tenure to nominate a judge in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, as he has repeatedly promised to do.

"They don't need me lobbying on this stuff - they know what to do," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative group with close ties to the White House. "My only recommendation is that they nominate someone who is 12 or 13 years old," to ensure as long a conservative legacy as possible.

There are those who urge Bush to submit a moderate, consensus-building nominee. These people are wasting their breath. As the News Blog observes:

In Bush's entire political career, when has he ever denied the GOP hard core what they want. When has Karl Rove ever advised him to not to?

Remember: For the red-meat right, the Gonzales track record isn't red-meat enough. He's too divisive.