Conservatives have felt betrayed by Persident Bush over a lot of issues, but this is the one that will be felt the most:
In preparation for oral arguments Tuesday on the extent of gun rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has before it a brief signed by Vice President Cheney opposing the Bush administration's stance. Even more remarkably, Cheney is faithfully reflecting the views of President Bush.
The government position filed with the Supreme Court by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stunned gun advocates by opposing the breadth of an appellate court's affirmation of individual ownership rights. The Justice Department, not the vice president, is out of order. But if Bush agrees with Cheney, why did the president not simply order Clement to revise his brief? The answers: disorganization and weakness in the eighth year of his presidency.
Consequently, a Republican administration finds itself aligned against the most popular tenet of social conservatism: gun rights, which enjoy much wider agreement than do opposition to abortion or gay marriage. Promises in two presidential campaigns are being abandoned, and Bush finds himself to the left of even Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
"Disorganization and weakness" probably understates the disarray, but that's no excuse for letting this happen. For the first time, we could have a court settle the 2nd Amendment question of individual versus collective right to keep and bear arms, and the odds actually seem good for an individual-rights decision. Or at least they would with a little help from the compassionate conservative in the White House.
