September 03, 2004

It was nice to see President Bush mention tort reform twice in his acceptance speech last night. Based on his Texas record, I do believe he's sincere about the issue, and depending on the Senate, federal-level reforms might be possible in a second term.

That said, I was disappointed to see Mel Martinez taking the stage. Of course, he's now the Senate nominee from Florida, the swing state of all swing states--and he's a Latino immigrant--so I completely understand the political impetus behind the move. But it nevertheless strikes me as incongruous to attack John Edwards's trial lawyer background on the one hand yet support a different leading trial lawyer, Martinez, on the other, as a "testament of the American Dream."

And I seriously doubt that Martinez will be a friend of tort reform in the Senate...

For more political comments, see our editor's entry on overlawyered.