Tim, the president has made no “promises” to social conservatives. That’s not the way it works, and if social conservatives think they were “promised” anything specific, they’re just wrong. Presidents aren’t city councilmen who “promise” to fix a pothole. When did he “promise” to end abortion on demand, or overturn Roe? He has laid out a set of principles about how he views the courts — that he wants strict construction of the Constitution, that he will have no litmus tests, that he likes justices in the Scalia-Thomas mold. Social conservatives, like conservatives generally, have every reason to think Bush is about as good a president as they will ever see — a major tax-cutter, a supporter of faith-based initiatives, an appointer of very conservative judges, a signer of a partial-birth-abortion ban, among other things. That’s why I doubt he will pick Gonzales — not because social conservatives would oppose Gonzales, but because Bush would want someone more in line with his own ideological perspective for a lifetime-tenure job. But anybody who thinks screaming about Gonzales in the way some on the Right are would incline Bush to choose someone else get the guy wrong. Get him angry and he might just do it to spite you.