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Stop Whining – Right Choices and the Courts (GOP forms circular firing squad – shoots feet)
RealClearPolitics ^ | October 7, 2005 | Ronald A. Cass

Posted on 10/07/2005 9:57:33 AM PDT by quidnunc

To hear the howls from conservative commentators following President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers, you would think that Bush just sold a seat on the Supreme Court to someone who’s a cross between Ann Richards and Barney the White House pet. Half the critics aren’t certain that Ms. Miers shares their views or will vote the way they want on key issues. The other half complain that Ms. Miers has no qualifications to be on the Court, having been neither a judge nor a scholar. All of the critics assume that it is more important that their preferences for appointment to the Court be respected than that the President’s choice be given presumptive weight.

The critics should take a deep breath, count to ten, exhale — and stop whining.

Let’s start with the qualifications issue. Having spent 30 years in academia, including 14 years as a dean, I have strong respect for those who have enough passion about legal concepts to write and speak about them. I also have enormous respect for the work of judges, and have many extraordinarily able friends on appellate courts who would have topped my own list of best nominees for the Supreme Court. Ms. Miers wasn’t my pick, and wouldn’t have been if I had been choosing, because she doesn’t bring to the Court demonstrated excellence in the skill set that I value most for that position. But it’s not my decision to make, and none of my own credentials gives me the right to tell the President who should sit on the Court. They do, however, give me standing to answer some of his critics.

First, it’s wrong to say that Ms. Miers’ only qualification for the court is friendship with the President. Of course, her close association with the President put her in a position to be selected. Just as, for example, Robert Jackson’s close association with Franklin Roosevelt led to his appointment to the Court. Yet Miers isn’t some childhood friend of the President’s who was nominated out of friendship alone. She is a close associate who has worked for and with the President for years, providing legal services, advice, and counsel on policy and personnel matters — someone the President has seen at work day in and day out for years. She’s someone whose views and values the President knows and whose legal skills have benefited him for more than a decade.

-snip-


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: blamethemessanger; rationalization
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Honorable Ronald A. Cass, President of Cass & Associates, PC, a legal consultancy in Great Falls, VA, is Dean Emeritus of Boston University School of Law and Co-Chairman of the Committee for Justice. He was Vice-Chairman of the US International Trade Commission, and author of “The Rule of Law in America” (Johns Hopkins Press).
1 posted on 10/07/2005 9:57:35 AM PDT by quidnunc
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To: quidnunc

Here's an idea: stop whining about whining.


2 posted on 10/07/2005 9:59:02 AM PDT by k2blader (Hic sunt dracones..)
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To: quidnunc

Why defile the dog with Ann Richards?


3 posted on 10/07/2005 9:59:33 AM PDT by right right
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To: quidnunc

It was Bush who shot us in the foot by nominating an unqualified nominee. Demanding a well-qualified conservative is not "whining".


4 posted on 10/07/2005 10:03:55 AM PDT by Betaille ("And if the stars burn out there's only fire to blame" -Duran Duran)
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To: quidnunc
Having someone who knows more about business and understands better the practical impact of legal decisions on businesses is valuable to have represented on the Court and currently is in short supply.

Good point.

5 posted on 10/07/2005 10:05:50 AM PDT by maryz
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To: quidnunc
That bad smell in the air that you can't put your finger on but reflexively don't like is the smell of affirmative action.
6 posted on 10/07/2005 10:08:27 AM PDT by Last Dakotan
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To: quidnunc

The constitution gives us the definition of qualifications..


7 posted on 10/07/2005 10:10:19 AM PDT by griswold3 (Ken Blackwell, Ohio Governor in 2006 - George Allen, POTUS 2008)
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To: quidnunc

Up...the MSM and the Dims are loving this mess. I guess we want to be the minority.

I'm as conservative as anyone on this board. I'm not happy with everything W has done, especially on illegal immigrations and spending. But we have three more years affect change. It takes time for people in the middle who have actually started to think of themselves as Republicans to adopt more conservative positions. Like most of us, I didn't do it all at once.

Just like the Dims, we can run these people off. The MSM and the Libs know it (the Libs are really good at it themselves). The Media is using our words to defeat us.

So, for those of you who keep whining about RINOs, whining about Bush, saying you aren't going to vote for the Republicans, I look at it this way:

You've already done more damage than your vote will make up for anyway. You've disengaging from the process.

So who cares what you think?


8 posted on 10/07/2005 10:10:47 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (We Self-Destruct. We Blame Bush. That'll Show 'Em!)
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To: quidnunc

Great article. Best anti-whine article yet. I'd love to force-feed it to Krauthammer, just to name one of the particularly shrill whine-babies I've read today.

We need someone practical. We need someone pro-business. We need someone who's head is not in the intellectual clouds of judicial elitism.

Thank you, Mr. President.


9 posted on 10/07/2005 10:11:17 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: quidnunc

By "stop whining" he means just bend over and grab your ankles. Don't worry, he sent his assistant to the limo for some vaseline.


10 posted on 10/07/2005 10:16:01 AM PDT by BadAndy (Stuck on "Smart Ass")
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To: Betaille

Which is better: An "unqualified conservative or a well-qualified liberal?

Because President Clinton is going to pick a bunch of those if we don't get our act together.


11 posted on 10/07/2005 10:16:36 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (We Self-Destruct. We Blame Bush. That'll Show 'Em!)
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To: right right
Why defile the dog with Ann Richards?

************

LOL! Good question.

12 posted on 10/07/2005 10:18:30 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Which is better: An "unqualified conservative or a well-qualified liberal?

I'd go with "qualified conservative," but for some reason you didn't offer that as an option.

13 posted on 10/07/2005 10:20:31 AM PDT by kevao
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To: samtheman
"We need someone practical. We need someone pro-business. We need someone who's head is not in the intellectual clouds of judicial elitism."

I agree. I also like the fact that she's not Ivy league. Here is someone who's actually been affected by some of these goofy decisions these judges make. She's practiced law. Someone called her "Clarence Thomas in a skirt." I can't tell you how much hope that gave me that she would be all right.
14 posted on 10/07/2005 10:29:02 AM PDT by adgirl
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To: kevao

Which is better: An "unqualified conservative or a well-qualified liberal?

I'd go with "qualified conservative," but for some reason you didn't offer that as an option.

_____________

Oh, that's right...it's my job to provide you with options. I should have consulted you first. However, I didn't see you provide me with a list of qualifications for a SCJ? You just say Miers is "unqualified."

Why?


15 posted on 10/07/2005 10:33:10 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (We Self-Destruct. We Blame Bush. That'll Show 'Em!)
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To: adgirl
I also like the fact that she's not Ivy league. Here is someone who's actually been affected by some of these goofy decisions these judges make.
Yup. We don't need no ivy leaguers. We don't need no thought control.
16 posted on 10/07/2005 10:40:16 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: kevao



http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1498504/posts


17 posted on 10/07/2005 10:40:56 AM PDT by rightinthemiddle (We Self-Destruct. We Blame Bush. That'll Show 'Em!)
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To: quidnunc
Dear friends, you have a right to say what you want (within the rules of the forum), and I support your passion. But I am also getting tired of the word "whining." What may sound to whining to some, it may be the most important statement your or anyone can make... a very important thing it must be said, in my opinion. Right? I'll say LET'S WHINE ALL WE WANT... in other words let's talk - Withou insulting each other.

I am not saint, but what you say, it's important, whether I agree with it or not.

I love you all!... bartender... fill it up please :))

18 posted on 10/07/2005 10:42:23 AM PDT by ElPatriota (Let's not forget, we are all still friends despite our differences)
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To: rightinthemiddle
Oh, that's right...it's my job to provide you with options.

I didn't say it was your job. YOU are the one who took it upon YOURSELF to ask the entire FR community its opinion of the following:

Which is better: An "unqualified conservative or a well-qualified liberal?

Well, I offered you my opinion, saying that I would prefer a qualified conservative, and pointing that, for whatever reason, you did not offer that as an option to choose from. Next time, if you don't want my opinion, don't ask.

Jeez, everyone is sooooo sensitive around here lately!!!

19 posted on 10/07/2005 10:45:54 AM PDT by kevao
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To: maryz

That is the best point yet made in the confirmation debate.


20 posted on 10/07/2005 10:53:06 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued (Jeanine Pirro for Senate, Hillary Clinton for Weight Watchers Spokeswoman)
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