In today’s Wall Street Journal, the column by our friend John Fund contains this enlightening revelation: More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because “he wore his conservatism on his sleeve.”

Wow. This supports every single thing I and so many other critics of McCain’s “Gang of 14” deal have been saying: It indicated not an interest in fighting for conservative judges, but a capitulation. There is absolutely no reason to believe that a president John McCain would EVER appoint conservative judges. The best we could expect from him — the BEST — would be along the lines of O’Connor and Kennedy. And that would be all up and down the federal courts, not just at the Supreme Court. To not be looking for and demanding judges/justices like Alito is to shoot the finger at every conservative in the country — or, worse, the political equivalent of subjecting us to waterboarding.

But what can you expect from the same senator, McCain, who said as recently as 1999 (to the San Fran Chronicle editorial board) that “in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade, which would then force X-number of women to undergo illegal and dangerous abortions.”

Seeing as how there are numerous pro-abort liberals who nevertheless acknowledge that Roe, as constitutional law/legal reasoning, is utter nonsense, this window into McCain’s real views shows a man with absolutely no understanding or even concern about the Constitution.

On the other hand, I have been trying to work out a theory, which I haven’t quite been able to finish putting together in full, that Rudy Giuliani would OPERATIONALLY be more pro-life than McCain or even Huckabee. It’s sort of the “only Nixon could go to China” thing: With a highly partisan Democratic Senate, ony Giuliani could appoint an originalist without the originalist AUTOMATICALLY being blocked/filibustered on the grounds that the president obviously was looking for an anti-Roe justice.

It is also true that Giuliani has proved to be a man of his word on public policy: What he says he will do, he does. In that light, it is more believable coming from him than it would be from another pro-choicer when he says he would veto any relevant bills that try to drop the Hyde Amendment or Mexico City language (i.e., the two key pro-life statutory matters handled by the president and Congress). He would actively promote parental notification, oppose partial-birth abortion, and work particularly hard to promote adoption.

While we are on the subject of McCain vs. Giuliani (meaning I have gotten off subject, because originally this was just a post alerting readers about just how godawful McCain is on the subject of judges), it is also worth noting that Giuliani is equally as strong on defense as McCain — actually, stronger, considering that Rudy doesn’t want to let jihadist terrorists have access to our domestic courts, but McCain does — and that he is far, far better on economics. He’s both a tax cutter and a spending cutter, succeeding at both endeavors even in liberal New York City. There, of course, he also cut crime, fought smut, took stands against Arafat and Castro at public events, helped break some corrupt union influence, promoted school choice, eliminated racial quotas, and (as prosecutor) broke the back of the mob.

McCain? He merely pounds his chest and boasts about his war record and his moral superiority, all while blocking energy exploration and trying to kill the American pharmaceutical companies (he called the “the enemy”) that develop so many life-saving drugs for all of us. Plus, he joins his “beloved” (HIS word!) Sen. Lindsey Graham to smear a Republican judicial nominee, Jim Haynes of the Pentagon, who was given the ABA’s highest rating and who is the very model of a qualified, wise, thoughtful, brilliant, and yes, judicious lawyer — all on behalf of a purely private vendetta of Graham’s, the same Graham who called opponents of illegal immigration “bigots” and who follows McCain like a lovesick puppy.

Oh… and McCain lies about Romney’s record, as well as lying about his own.

And now we learn McCain would “draw the line” against choosing another judge like Samuel Alito.

So why would ANY conservative ever vote for this guy?