Today, Reps. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Charles Bass (NH) officially endorsed Rep. John Shadegg for House Majority Leader. CNN has the story. Though Flake was already in the bag, having these two declare endorsement together is significant considering that Flake is conservative while Bass is moderate, and these are the same two legislators who pushed for new leadership elections earlier this month.

Concerning Rep. Blunt’s attempt to claim victory:

“The numbers don’t add up,” Flake said. “This is very much still a contested race. Anybody who goes into a situation with a secret ballot, who claims to have it wrapped up, ought to hear footsteps.”

Seems to me that those footsteps are getting louder. John Boehner, of course, couldn’t help but attempt to direct some of their thunder to his own camp:

Boehner said he agrees with Bass and Flake that the contest should focus on reform.

“As a legislator who has never asked for a single pork-barrel project for his congressional district, I look forward to working with them as majority leader on earmark and budget reforms so we can change the way Congress does business,” Boehner said.

Though Boehner may have more public endorsements than Shadegg, his comments seem more and more desperate as Shadegg bags key legislators’ endorsements. He is tripping over himself trying to constantly be supportive of Shadegg’s entrance into the race, yet at the same time attempts to (nervously) promote himself. Could he drop out and endorse Shadegg? Some of his comments, plus the increasing momentum that Shadegg is gathering that Boehner lacks, seem to indicate that possibility.

Remember to call your representatives.

According to Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), his vote against Judge Alito to become Justice Alito is an attempt to prevent Bush from “packing the court.” Spewing out a great deal of doom-and-gloom fire and brimstone, invoking secret NSA wiretaps and even the loss of OBL at Tora Bora, and stating that Bush has a consistent goal to minimize the rights of Americans, Leahy made the astounding remark that Bush is trying to stack the Supreme Court so that it will not hinder his policies.

Quite frankly, Sen. Leahy, right now some Originalist SCOTUS packing is exactly what we need. The SCOTUS recently demonstrated its departure from its duty to protect the Constitution in the horrific Kelo vs. New London ruling. According to the wise old sages on the SC, a local government cannot only declare privately held property to be eminent domain for public use (infrastructure, etc), which is allowed for in the Constitution, but can also deem it condemned over the private owner’s objections simply because another private entity wants to build something that will bring in more tax revenue. I fail to see why that doesn’t outrage you, Sen. Leahy.

In 1973, the Supreme Court trampled the Founding Fathers’ Federalist intentions by overruling all 50 states’ rights and giving women everywhere, despite what their respective states believed, the right to have an abortion - a right that was not derived from the Constitution, but from mere judicial fiat. Read the Constitution - it isn’t in there. Even pro-choice scholars agree that Roe v. Wade was an abysmal ruling by legal standards. I don’t care what you think about abortion, Sen. Leahy; you claim that this court is “mainstream” when it shows disdain for private property and for Constitutional Reserved states’ rights. Some movement to the Right is exactly what this court needs. To claim that it is currently mainstream is a joke.

Read this. Cry. Repeat.