about alleged hysteria, courtesy of The New Republic. Most of it’s not worth bothering with, so I’ll leave aside all the junk about Republicans’ increasing extremism (odd, though, how Republicans have become a majority party while growing more “extreme”). Let me just ask a question about TNR’s notion that Bush is facing a moment of truth: “Bush must endorse the fever or repudiate it.” So–if Bush nominates John Roberts, is he endorsing the fever or repudiating it? Edith Clement–is she a symptom of fever or a cure? Michael McConnell? Miguel Estrada? Or is this sentence just empty wordplay?