One D.C. politico e-mails another archived McCain quote, suggesting that in a McCain administration, Pat Leahy may be picking the next Supreme Court justice. I suspect he was being practical — hard to get someone through who Leahy-Kennedy-Schumer will wage war on, but since a president tends to move left when in office, a little more right fight in him would be nice:

This was from a McCain interview with Chris Matthews back around the time of the Gang of 14 deal. He’s saying, in effect, Senators on the Judiciary Committee, Kennedy, Schumer, Leahy, and Co., would have a de facto veto of a nominee. His exact words are “if they were unacceptable, they wouldn’t send them over.” That’s crazy. That strikes not just Alito and Roberts, but certainly Thomas. Is that still his standard or has he flip-flopped? MATTHEWS: The president of the United States gets to pick federal judges. What should be the standard that the opposition applies to whether they let it come to a vote or not? MCCAIN: I think that they should let them come to a vote, but I also think that before the nominations are formally introduced, the way they used to do it, they would kind of run the traps of the— senators, particularly those on the committee and say, “Are these acceptable or unacceptable?” and if they were unacceptable they wouldn’t send them over and if they were acceptable, then they would move forward. We used to have this thing called a blue slip, where if it was a judge from your state, you could and if you objected they didn’t take it up. And by the way, when Bill Clinton was president, we effectively, in the Judiciary Committee, blocked a number of his nominees.