Under the Radar (Great editorial about Harriet Miers)

The Illinois Leader ^ | 10/6/05 | Connie Lynne Carrillo

[wagglebee]

“Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”
--Matthew 5:5

And so they have.

A quiet public servant, who has toiled for years in veritable obscurity, immediately calls her pastor and asks him to pray for her. An unassuming Texas lady, who for years went unnoticed and didn’t make anybody’s short or long list, is stepping into the biggest limelight America can offer a legal mind, the Supreme Court.

Her name is Harriet Miers and people like Rush Limbaugh are fuming. The conservative right feels let down. Betrayed!! They are suicidal, depressed, disappointed and “demoralized”. In short, they are steamed. Pat Buchanan goes postal; Bill Kristol, hysterical; Rush Limbaugh, incoherent.

Everybody needs to get a grip. By the time you finish reading this column, you will feel calm and euphoria sweeping over you. You will be shocked and awed by the brilliant leadership President Bush has shown with this selection. You will know the Court will be in the best hands possible. You will love Harriet Miers. You will wish you had put her on the top of your short list. And here’s why:

1. Note the quote beginning this column: The “meek shall inherit the earth.” This is not just some pabulum I dreamed up. This is what Christians actually should believe. This is what Christ taught. Ordinary workers, who labor in the fields of the Lord, shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. And an unpretentious laborer in the fields of the Lord, and the fields of George W. Bush, might just be the best person for the highest court in the land.

Harriet Miers does not just show up at church on Sunday morning; go downstairs for coffee and donuts; check her Christianity at the door and return to bloodbath politics as usual.

She identifies herself as a “born again” Christian. Now, this is an important distinction. People who identify themselves this way are dead serious about their faith. They live it. They love it. And they would probably die for it. Bored, comatose Protestant mainliners and robotic, zombie-like cultural Catholics need not apply for this personal distinction unless they are ready to take the big leap into being born again, or, as we Catholics say, conversion.

As a Catholic myself, of course, I miss her and wish she’d come home to us. I can certainly imagine, though, how it happened, as the Catholic Church took a nosedive into immorality, corruption, relativism and liberalism after Vatican II.

2. Harriet Miers has toiled in obscurity and she is not getting much respect in her own town. People who toil in obscurity usually don’t owe anybody anything. You don’t see them on endless talk shows schlepping their latest book, that is, in actuality, a bloated, overblown magazine article. The D.C. assembly-line cocktail party circuit probably does it without her.

3. Horror of all horrors, liberal elitism has reared its ugly head! She was not born with a silver spoon stuck in her mouth by an Ivy League alumnus with a Harvard education on the end of it. I mean, come on, Ted Kennedy graduated from Harvard. How great can it possibly be?

4. No personal baggage! No, we don’t have to worry about any frat-house, drunken party images showing up on the internet with this Texas lady. Refreshing, isn’t it?

Not much partying for her it seems, except for a few celebrations with her co-workers, who, apparently, adore her.

She spends most of her time at the office. Being single and never married, no unseemly marriage problems, bimbo alerts or embarrassing divorce papers to be splattered all over The Smoking Gun website; no illegal-alien-nanny-gate problems; no grand-children-who-need-bailing-out-of-jail problems, and, living the simple life alone, she probably doesn’t need a cadre of workers from Guatemala to keep up the estate and then not pay their taxes. She seems to have a nice gentleman friend who shows up occasionally, so, a little romance might do the staid Court some good.

5. She is a woman! I think Harry Reid has a crush on her!

Her lack of bench experience is a red herring. Dozens of Justices brought no bench time to the Court, including the late Chief Justice Rehnquist, whose road to the Court also ran the same course through the White House.

Now, let’s pull ourselves together. This great lady presents a clean slate and appears untarnished. Her main drawback being the intellectual conservative cabal didn’t think of her first.

Harriet Miers came creeping in under the radar like a Stealth bomber; a modest, unassuming, hard-working, experienced lawyer with strong moral, religious and constitutional convictions. Just what the boss was looking for.

Let's give her a chance. Bombs away!

[Chena]

So after a week of wrangling we have come full circle. "Trust Bush" is still the only justification that the pro-Miers side has.

I disagree. We now know more about Harriet Miers than we did in the beginning, and what we've learned about her has been positive and has justified her nomination. Those who insist that the nominee should have been required to have judicial experience, or at the very least, a lengthy paper-trail, refuse to acknowledge the fact that some of the greatest judges began their honorable service without them.

[RandDisciple]

I agree. I amazed that so many Republicans and FR's are rationalizing this embarrassing selection. No conservative would have chosen her if they had her bio next to all of the other outstanding choices. I feel she should be embarrassed to be selected by her "friend and client" over such long toiling, exemplary conservative jurists.

What a poor message this sends to these conservative judges who have fought the intellectual battles against the liberals all of these years. This selection is not based on merit. She should resign her nomination to the S.C.

[quidnunc]

Treader wrote: So, by your post, I could reason, that Miers has agreed to President Bush's full-on-court-press of OUR border/port issues? Correct?

What on earth are you talking about?

[D Rider]

Thanks for the transcript links,

Sounds like Rush is supporting the President. That makes the writer of this article full of bovine fecal material.

[shempy]

The only beatitude that I am looking for in a Supreme Court Justice is:

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

At least Sandra Day O'Connor was a committed federalist, regardless of her other failings.

We don't even know that much about Ms. Miers, which is yet another mark in the debit column, in my estimation.

[wagglebee]

No, Rush was clearly miffed about Miers. He is doing his best to support Bush, but he is being very hesitant.

[oblomov]

GWB was clearly not in opposition to the Kelo decision. There was no statement from the White House on it at all, and apparently Gonzales was to file an amicus brief on behalf of New London, but it was never submitted.

How would Miers have ruled on Kelo, since GWB knows her so well and has confidence in her fidelity to his principles?

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

But they sure do act as if they are sometimes, don't they?

They're still accountable to the American public, regardless.

[Chena]

One of the things that President Bush has said about why he chose her, was that he believes, no doubt, that she will be faithful to be a strict Constitutionalist. Just because she is a born-again Christian doesn't mean she is going to vote on her emotional feelings. To even suggest that is, IMHO, is a terrible insult that she does not deserve and certainly has not earned.

[Treader]

Good post! Baahhh baahhh, indeed...

[sefarkas]

Bush nominated someone who #1 passes the pro-life litmus test many on FR seem to hold dear; and #2 can be confirmed for reasons mentioned here and on other threads. Bush has delivered on a dream if you want a group on the SCOTUS that is inclined to overturn Roe v. Wade.

[jonrick46]

Thank you! I am sending this to all my Republican friends in the Great Northwest!

[Chena]

Anytime a group of lawyers, "legal experts", liberals and politicians come out against something, don't you begin to wonder if perhaps that "something" may be a good thing? LOL

[wardaddy]

what a comforting choice after a 20 year wait

a wait and see if she is a real conservative...hopefully...oh great

trust the preisdent....be a good little bot

how dare you question the man, you ingrate fringer you

[dk/coro]

AlaskaEric, Let me please kindly differ. I am always a bit suspicious when preached to by pedigreed conservatives who have never heard the whine a bullet destined their way, in the service of their country!

The fact that Kristol, Will, Buchanan (a real washed-up has-been), Rush and "Legs" Coulter all have their collective noses out of joint tells me that "W" might be doing something right.

Please remember that his daddy sent George to fire Sununu -- and it took W" about 30 seconds to do so, in 1991. And, the Prez keeps his word -- which is something that is a true novelty in Washington.

So, to use a hackneyed phrase: "Limbaugh and Company -- Get Over It." And, another truism is in play here:

Where do the Limousine Conservatives have to go in this one? Answer: Nowhere !!! This steel magnolia will make Dolly and the girls look like wet sponges by comparison, before it is over.

There is nothing like having to meet a real-life payroll in a competitive operating environment to make Washington feel like kindergarten.

Just my rambling opinion, of course. *S*

[Dat Mon]

Can you please answer some questions for me...

Was Roberts a strong conservative candidate?

If so....how did he get through the nomination process without a filibuster?

Is Ms Miers the best possible candidate of all strong conservative candidates we have ready to go, or is she the best we can get through...as the WH has told Levin?

Why cant we get another candidate like Roberts through...dont we have any others like him?

[Chena]

'Constitutional convictions'!!! What a strange term in today's vernacular. The pundits may not understand it, but "we, the People" know that whatever she lacks in artificial "credentials" can be made up by the conviction that the United States Constitution is and was, as someone observed a long time ago, the most miraculous document ever invented by the mind and purpose of man. Her fidelity to that document and its provisions (including the process required for its own amendment) is what will distinguish her service.

Excellent comment! Well done, loveliberty2

[OKIEDOC]

I disagree.

Speak softly and carry a stick of dynamite.

[Salvation]

**A quiet public servant, who has toiled for years in veritable obscurity, immediately calls her pastor and asks him to pray for her.**

I'm on my way to getting enough information on her right there! Wow!!!