Remember This One Come 2008
Recently, conventional-wisdom political publication National Journal did an insiders' survey of who were the early frontrunners for the 2008 presidential election. (Look, otherwise they'd be forced to think about the issues.) The winner on the Republican side might be a surprise: it was Senator George Allen of Virginia. Allen's dad is an NFL Hall of Fame coach, and the son would be the first president since Andrew Johnson to have also been a governor and senator.
Anyway, apparently he's got a real moderate style, he's really conservative, and he's really driven, so the thinking is that he'd make a great presidential candidate. I was reading an interview with him and he made this remark:
The 9th Circuit is Exhibit A of activist judges who ignore the will of the people, who are reversed more than any other court by far in this country.
Whoopsie-daisy. This is not a campaign-killing quote, but it's not good either, as I suspect there will be a lot of judicial explaining to do between now and 2008. So when that happens, remember that George Allen is on the record as saying judges should adhere to the whims of the moment and not the law as it stands (the latter usually being the GOP's stated goal).
Rival candidates bring up each other's old quotes often enough that you might think they cover everything, but they don't. Candidates speak much more freely three years out of a presidential election, and it is not likely that all of their mistakes will get caught. So remember this one, and point out any others you see.