When Bush-bashers complain about Roberts being from outside SCOTUS...

...as a caller on C-SPAN's Washington Journal did on September 12th (and was subsequently corrected by the host, which caused the caller to become quite amusingly flustered) and Shannon, a recent visitor to S&B;, did on her own site, remind them that historically, chief justices have been chosen from outside the ranks of the Supreme Court. See for yourself:

...until the twentieth century, no chief justice had been selected from the ranks of those already on the Court. ... Only three associate justices have been elevated directly to chief justice, and two had brief or unsuccessful tenures. The first chief justice to be elevated internally was Edward White, a former Confederate soldier. ... Harlan Fiske Stone also moved up from associate justice to chief justice... Other than these two, only Rehnquist has made the transition from associate to chief.

So, the choice of "outsider" Roberts is really unremarkable and not the least bit controversial. It would seriously behoove people who make this complaint to actually take the time to research and study what they are complaining about. When they hurl insults at President Bush for his choice of Roberts for chief justice, they are exposing their ignorance and hurting only themselves.

UPDATE: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! My stalker claims that "hardly anyone watches" Washington Journal on C-SPAN. The numbers, of course, tell a different tale:

Number of U.S. homes with cable and satellite that receive MTV: 83,400,000

Number of U.S. homes that receive C-SPAN: 85,000,000

MSNBC's rank among U.S. cable television networks, based on distribution: 34

C-SPAN's rank, based on distribution: 8

Average weekly audience for West Wing, 2000-2001 season: 17,012,000

Estimated number of people watching C-SPAN each week: 28,500,000

...

Number of viewer phone calls aired by C-SPAN last year: 25,000

And more:

...a new national survey reports that 20 percent of the cable and satellite viewing audience (an estimated* 34.5 million people) watch C-SPAN 'regularly'—at least once or twice a week.

...

Fully 42 percent of cable/satellite viewers say they have watched C-SPAN in the past six months. Furthermore, the survey found that C-SPAN reaches every segment of the American public.

Still more:

50 MILLION AMERICANS WATCH C-SPAN*
*C-SPAN estimate based on Pew Research Survey of News Audiences.

Yep, more:

28.5 million people tune into C-SPAN’s public affairs programming each week

...

39 percent [of viewers in the past six months], or an estimated 20 million adults, have watched Washington Journal, C-SPAN’s live morning call-in program

In all fairness, though, maybe CC is refering just to the population of Canada. That would make his statement accurate, I'd imagine.