Liberals SHOULD worry about Kagan

Liberals should worry about Elena Kagan not only in her own self as not being that liberal on the Supreme Court, but as symptomatic of an ongoing trend in that area.

Further proof of that? And of pseudo-liberal presidential cravenness? The NYT notes that not since Thurgood Marshall in 1967 have liberals really been jazzed about a SCOTUS nominee. (LBJ's biggest mistake outside of Vietnam was not nominating him, rather than crony Abe Fortas, to be the Chief a year later.)

Oh, and liberals SHOULD complain about Kagan:

“Why do the conservatives always get the conservatives, but we don’t get to get the liberals?” Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, asked the Web site Politico recently, voicing the frustration of the left when Ms. Kagan was considered a front-runner but was not yet Mr. Obama’s selection. “What the hell is that all about?”

More proof from that same story?

Richard A. Posner, a conservative appeals court judge in Chicago, and William M. Landes, his colleague from the University of Chicago law school, ranked all 43 justices from 1937 to 2006 by ideology and found that four of the five most conservative ones are on the current court. Even the moderate swing vote, Justice Kennedy, was the 10th most conservative over that period. By contrast, none of the current justices ranks among the five most liberal members, and only Justice Ginsburg is in the top 10.

Remember, Posner would have incentive to UNDERsell conservative bona fides to push the court further right.

Oh, and it's not just executive power to worry about from Kagan.

Her eptitude as Solicitor General is laughable, despite The One's claims about her brilliance, as posted on a blog at TPM. It's hard to imagine her having the skill, or the gravitas bestowed by other justices, to be able to form voting consensuses.