I don’t take Bob Novak’s piece to mean he can’t count to 5. What he’s saying, which I think has merit, is that Roberts is one of the least offensive “conservatives” the president could have nominated, given his fairly thin record and careful writings. But the attacks on Roberts (from the New York Times hoping to look at sealed adoption records to NARAL’s lies), which are not likely to stop Roberts, are intended to send a message to the White House that if the president nominates a Luttig, who has a 14-year record of sound rulings, worse can be expected. And I don’t think this should be so easily dismissed.