Instead, the liberal and conservative bases demand ideologically reliable nominees who are not very likely to disappoint them.
Of the several contentious judicial candidates nominated by President Bush, Mr. Pickering stands somewhat apart because his nomination did not come out of the White House effort to find young, reliable conservative nominees to fill the nation's courts.
He announced an advisory committee on the courts headed by Theodore B. Olson, a leading conservative lawyer and former solicitor general, that is full of people like Charles J. Cooper, who had been influential in selecting reliable conservative nominees in the Bush and Reagan administrations.
It is far from a reliable predictor of the eventual nominee.
If Clinton wins the White House and Democrats take back the Senate, McConnell and his colleagues will have only one reliable recourse to stop a nominee: a filibuster.
I will not take sides in the Presidential primary contest but will be a reliable player that the eventual presidential nominee will be able to depend on, and work with closely and cooperatively through the presidential campaign.
These are the things that count when assessing the qualifications of a Supreme Court nominee, and they are much more reliable indicators of excellence than sex, race, religion or political affiliation.
Nearly every poll and reliable piece of data shows Hillary Clinton beating the Republican nominee by a healthy margin.
The time has come, he warns, without apparent irony, to depoliticize the judiciary and seek nominees who are great rather than politically reliable.
Not only did Romney not offer a mea culpa and became the nominee, Rubin went on to be his most reliable media shill.
