I Can't Argue With That...

Ok, so I'm chatting with a couple of friends over beer when one of them comes out and says that he supports Judge Alito. That's unexpected, because my friend is (literally) a Massachusetts liberal. So, after I pick all the little bits of my skull off the floor I give him the usual song and and dance about how Alito is pure evil. And he says that he mostly agrees. So then I ask him how, if he agrees that Alito is pure evil, he can support Alito's nomination. Its very simple, my friend says. Start with the assumption that one of George Bush's nominations will eventually make it through the trial by fire. Since Alito is not the worst possible candidate we should support Alito against the chance that someone worse comes along. But Alito is pure evil; how could anyone be worse? They could be charismatic, says my friend. I had to give him that one; someone with Alito's view and more charisma could be much worse. How do you argue with reasoning like that? Try as I might, I couldn't find a good counter-argument, as perverse as my friend's reasoning seems to me.