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Barnes: ‘The President Needs a Brawl’

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Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard, said the president should welcome a fight for the next Supreme Court nomination – this time, with Democrats squealing about the selection and conservatives firmly back in the Bush camp.

Barnes told Fox News Thursday that the Miers nomination resulted from a combination of three reasons, excluding the stated reason of conflict with "executive privilege.” Barnes said the real reasons may be that conservatives – the base supporters who helped elect and re-elect the president – simply were too uncomfortable with the prospect of Miers on the High Court.

"First, there was the conservative revolt,” Barnes said. "Then, came word that senators were not satisfied with their personal meetings. Finally, there was the prospect of an embarrassing Senate subcommittee hearing. It would be hard for [Miers] to make a really strong case that she should be on the U.S. Supreme Court.”

Barnes said the Miers nomination and an excellent "replacement pick” by the president could herald "the first step on the road to recovery” for the president, his popular support and his ability to regain political capital, particularly among his conservative base.

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"The president needs a brawl,” Barnes said. "He needs to get out and fight for something that the conservatives who elected him will support. If there is a fight on the next nomination – a conservative justice – that will benefit the president.”

Barnes offered some suggestions.

"If you couple [that fight] with a stronger stance against illegal immigration and budget cuts, you will see the president regain his core supporters.”

As for the possible "black eye” that the Miers’ fiasco may leave for the president, Barnes said he should not worry.

"This president is a fighter. Sometimes, when you get into a fight, you get a black eye,” he said. "If you win the fight, it doesn’t hurt.”

Editor's note:
Rush Limbaugh Says the War for the Court Has Begun! Find Out Details – Click Here Now
Find out how the Supreme Court is destroying America – Click Here

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