Lately the Republicans have been pretty profligate in running a label or a buzz phrase up the flagpole when it's politically convenient, and then burying it and pretending they never said it when the tables have turned. To wit:

When John Roberts was nominated to the high court, his Republican defenders said his Catholicism should not be an issue in any way when it came to his confirmation, trying to deflect allegations that his faith would make him anti-choice. But when Harriet Miers had nothing else to stand on, suddenly her faith as a born again Christian was something to be touted as some kind of credential.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) went on and on about the seriousness of perjury when Clinton was covering up his sexual misdeeds ("S]omething needs to be said that is a clear message that our rule of law is intact and the standards for perjury and obstruction of justice are not gray...And I don't want there to be any lessening of the standard."), but in the run-up to Libby's indictment, she said she hoped if there was an indictment it was about an "actual crime" and not some "technicality" like perjury in the investigation. You know, perjury about national security, and not just the naughties.

Well, here's another phrase you can expect them to suddenly stop using, and that's why it's up to US to start using it in every conversation about Alito and the right wing policy machine: activist judges. Remember activist judges? That's what conservative pundits like Pat Buchanan called any judge that enforced the law in ways the Right didn't like, ways that actually gave equal rights to gay people, ways that gave women the ability to control their own bodies. "Activist judges" were guilty of the sin of "legislating from the bench" and that is why they wanted to start stocking the courts with their own nominees who "understand the proper role of the judiciary."

The problem with their argument is that it's fundamentally a lie. The Radical Right does not want a "fair" judge, they want their own activist judge who will overturn Roe v. Wade. Here's the thing: Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land for over three decades (and for good reason, with over 60% of Americans saying they do not want to see Roe v. Wade overturned). So any judge that they want to install on the Supreme Court with the express intent of reversing well-established caselaw -- well, wouldn't you call that judicial activism?

Call it like it is: the Radical Right has embraced judicial activism for their pet issue. Judge Alito is an activist judge. Keep saying it until it echoes throughout the halls, because it's the truth.