Selected bits from a legal newspaper's interview of Judge Alfred Goodwina, the author of the opinion eliminating the words "under God" from the Pledge:

"I never had much confidence in the attention span of elected officials for any kind of deep thinking about important issues. When they pop off after what I call a bumper strip headline, they almost always give a superficial response."

[...]

"I'm a little disappointed in our chief executive [Pres. Bush] -- who nobody ever accused of being a deep thinker -- for popping off."

[...]

"That was just damage control," Goodwin said about his Thursday order staying the decision in Newdow v. U.S. Congress, even though the case is automatically stayed anyway.

He said that was done for the benefit of the media, who don't understand the intricacies of court rules -- especially TV reporters.

"Their attention span can't handle anything more than a haiku of about four lines. The worse thing about it was that some people said we were caving under pressure."

[...]

He also noted that some of the criticism is being fueled by what he called "this wrap-yourself-in-the-flag frenzy."

[...]

He added that he wasn't impressed with the media's interpretations of the ruling.

"I wasn't too surprised. I did work for newspapers … so I know how they work."

[...]

"The Wall Street Journal gave [the ruling] about a half-inch, which is what it deserved.