When Limberger was cheesed off

The fact that Rush Limberger's career has curdled somewhat is a reminder that the curse I put on him seven years ago may have finally come to pass.

In August 2005, he unwisely saw fit to blast me on his show for a column I wrote about the nomination of then Judge John Roberts as chief justice of the United States.

I warned America, although America didn't listen, that Judge Roberts was too preternaturally nice, which could only lead him to become a reactionary who would cause trouble. "As any gal will tell you," I wrote, "it's the nice ones who break your heart." So it proved, I would argue, from the Lilly Ledbetter case to Citizens United.

After Rush called me out, I wrote another column which demonstrated the use of the Aussie stock whip (literary version) in corralling swine. Since then, he has left me alone. (No guts.)

I am reminded of this because not only is Rush more in the news but Chief Justice John Roberts will be soon too. He will be presiding over the nation health-care legislation case.

Indeed, the chief justice was the subject of an interesting front-page profile in The New York Times this morning. It pictures a jurist at once sensitive to the court's reputation and the desire not to change the course of the law too abruptly but also capable of leading a strictly ideological majority in overturning "Obamacare."

What will he do? I suspect he'll break the hearts of those (like) me who approve of the law, just as I wrote seven years ago.

By the way, the curse on Rush was the traditional curse of the Aussies: May all your chickens turn into emus and kick over your patio furniture.