Harriet Who?

And like that, the Bush Administration got its mojo back.

The President nominated Samuel A. Alito, Jr., who's a well regarded Appellate Court judge from the Sixth Third Circuit. He's well known in conservative circles and has a record to pore over (and I hope everyone on both sides have done their due diligence on this one). And the New York Times literally sneers with its inclusion of Conservative judge Alito. Well, this morning all is right in Washington, DC, as everyone appears to have returned to the fold.

While the morning shows were casting him as Scalia lite or Scalito, I think many of those same talk show hosts didn't particularly mind Scalia's position on Kelo v. New London, which protected individual property rights.

For others covering this story, check out The Volokh Conspiracy, Instapundit, Bench Memos, and Michelle Malkin for regular updates.

UPDATE:
A kind reader pointed out a very blatant mistake. Alito was a 3d Circuit judge, not 6th. Apologies.

UPDATE:
Don Surber thinks that Miers saved the Bush Presidency. I'm not sure that is the case. The nomination, and following withdrawal, certainly animated the base, but sometimes an in-house fight is good for clarifying the mind and preparing for the real battles to come. If you think about this, the Miers decision didn't cost the President much in the way of political capital since his base will rally around this nominee in a way that they didn't with Miers. Those that supported the President out of political allegience will do so again.

The Democrats? They'll oppose Alito because they have to. And even there, not all of them will be able to because they're Democratic Senators representing red-states. And voting the wrong way or obstructing the process will make life difficult down the road for their reelections in 2006.

Also noting the nomination: Confirm Them, and Wizbang, Powerline, and Captain Ed predicts confirmation and has more on Alito's background.

UPDATE:
AJ Strata is tepid on the Alito nomination, and more particularly on those former sources of information that basically torpedoed the Miers nomination:

... I now have little to no trust in the sites where I used to get information on nominees (Redstate, NRO’s Bench Memos, Confirm Them) I have no choice to basically sit this out until the hearings.

I will not base my opinion on information provided by people who jump to conclusions from a fear of the unknown. I do not care what their political leanings are. I will not use information from those who feel demeaning someone personally is a form of political debate. I prefer more reliable and reasoned sources.

I agree that going with a limited sample of sites (from any ideological standpoint) to form and base an opinion on a particular nominee isn't a good idea, but Miers ran into trouble of her own making when her written response to the Committee's questionaire presented serious errors that can't be ascribed to grammar or typos (not getting the basic constitutional law concepts straight). And the coverage that suggested that her look-sees with various Senators went so poorly that the White House stopped them before it could do even more damage were signs that Miers was in trouble.

Getting a handle on the Miers' nomination was limited because she didn't have a record that one could peruse. Alito has a body of casework that sheds light on his judicial philosophy that one can read at their leisure. That's significant and telling. It's one thing to read about how a nominee thinks a case on commerce clause or abortion rights should be decided, but it's quite another to actually read a decision penned by a nominee. And that's what we've been presented with Alito. We'll be able to form our own opinion without needing outside sources to distill this nomination.

UPDATE:
PointFive has the latest newspaper clippings on the Alito nomination. Curious job listings abound in the Philly area. (satire alert)

UPDATE:
Baldilocks pulls up some quotes from across the spectrum, as does Wizbang.

UPDATE:
Don Surber is happy, though he and the Political Teen would have liked Janice Rogers Brown instead.

Posted to the Open Post at Mudville Gazette.

UPDATE:
Confederate Yankee thinks that

Liberals will shriek themselves into irrelevancy, the "Gang of 14" will fold, Alito will be easily confirmed, and both sides will squirrel away cash and rhetoric for the '06 and '08 campaigns.

On that last point, you can be assured.