Brownback: "We're just one activist judge away."

It couldn't be any more clear that when conservatives talk about "strict constructionism" and "litmus tests" for judicial nominees, they are referring to two things: 1) their history of appointing men and women who prefer ideology to morality and duty, and 2) their insistence that no-one has the right to question nominees about the impact their ideology will have on their rulings.

I could go into a lengthy aside about conservative friends who seemingly have every conviction that the appointment of right-wing ideologues who pursue a personal agenda is, in fact, the proper and just thing to do. But I won't.

Instead, I'll let Sam Brownback do the talking, as he makes one of the most feared gaffes than can happen to a Republican: letting the truth slip out.

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback vowed Thursday to appoint a U.S. Supreme Court justice who would overturn the court's Roe vs. Wade abortion-rights ruling, should he win the presidency.

"We can get it done," Brownback told about 100 supporters in Ames. "We're one justice away, and if we lose this we're going to be two or three judges away from overturning this thing that is wrong."

The Kansas Republican likened the national abortion arguments to the debate over slavery centuries earlier, when the Constitution considered a slave to be three-fifths of a person. "Everything on this Earth is one of two things: a person or property," he said.

Nice that he manages to incorporate the winking 'coded message' of a Dred Scott reference. Just one more indication that talk of strict constructionism, activist judges, et al., are just that: a sneaky way to say "my nominees will always side with the right-wing fringe-- I promise."