Some Get 'Borked,' Others Get 'Miered'

Associated Press ^ | October 27, 2005 | NAHAL TOOSI

[RWR8189]

Is "miered" the new "borked"? Robert Bork's failed nomination to the Supreme Court in 1987 spawned the verb "borked," defined loosely as getting rejected in an unseemly, even unfair, manner.

Now there is talk online about whether Harriet Miers' withdrawal of her nomination to the high court will give rise to the term "miered."

While liberals led to the opposition to Bork, it was conservatives who brought down Miers' nomination.

A contributor to The Reform Club, a right-leaning blog, wrote that to get "borked" was "to be unscrupulously torpedoed by an opponent," while to get "miered" was to be "unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally."

S.T. Karnick, co-editor of The Reform Club, elaborated.

"If you have a president who is willing to instigate a big controversy, the prospect of being `borked' will be the major possibility," he said. "But if you have a president who is always trying to get consensus, then it's much more likely that nominees will get `miered.'"

On The National Review Online, a conservative site, a contributor suggested that "to mier" means "to put your own allies in the most untenable position possible based upon exceptionally bad decision- making."

[weegee]

HEY, Why didn't the media ever pick up on my term "Zogbyism"? Manufacturing media smears as the left's McCarthyism.

Why name some of these things for the victims? Why not call out specific Democrats for "Borking" Bork?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

This criticsm was an inevitable cost. Hopefully it will all be worth it.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I didn't miss Bork in the first place.

[Rodney King]

A contributor to The Reform Club, a right-leaning blog, wrote that to get "borked" was "to be unscrupulously torpedoed by an opponent," while to get "miered" was to be "unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally."

The real definition should be "slow death of an unquialified candidate".

[Cicero]

Some Get Borked, Others Get Miered, and still others get Toosied.

[Miles the Slasher]

A veritable "quagmier."

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Double standards.

Did I get it right? Did I get it right?

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

You didn't? Shame on you! I think Bork is the greatest. And time keeps proving him right.

[My2Cents]

By essentially damaging Pres. Bush politically, do the anti-Miers conservatives really think they've helped the cause?

[Rodney King]

By essentially damaging Pres. Bush politically, do the anti-Miers conservatives really think they've helped the cause?

1. It depends on what "the cause" is.

2. Everyone is over-reacting to the damage here. Does anyone think of Reagan negatively and/or as weak because Bork or Ginsburg didn't get through?

[safisoft]

Miered = "unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally."

So, to use this verb correctly, one would say: President Bush miered his conservative base..

[Map Kernow]

A contributor to The Reform Club, a right-leaning blog, wrote that to get "borked" was "to be unscrupulously torpedoed by an opponent," while to get "miered" was to be "unscrupulously torpedoed by an ally."

Yeah, demanding qualifications to serve on the highest court in the land---how "unscrupulous." Try that on your next job interview: "You want to know how I'm qualified for this job? That's kind of an unscrupulous question, isn't it?" See how quickly you get the position in the real world, when you don't have "someone you know" to push you for the job.

[hawkaw]

AP = crAP

[Killborn]

DO NOT TAKE CREDIT FOR BORKING MIERS.

1) It is simply untrue. Miers and the President have cited that the reason for withdrawing is due to the inability to reveal the communications between them (attorney/client privilege) to the Senators. Had we given 100% support to her, the same situation would have befallen the nomination. If these docs could be revealed, the opposition FReepers would still be fighting tooth and nail.

2) It gives the left ammunition to Bork more candidates. It is no coincidence that the Dems and DSM are rallying for her from day one. Even if the President nominates Darth Vader Ginsburg the second, they'll still not believe that she is a true liberal. They don't believe for one second that Miers would be beneficial to the Court. It's the old divide and conquer.

Just my advice. Do with it as you see fit, but I think if we let this fall squarely on the Senators, we are much better off.

[RWR8189]

The damage was self-inflicted when he nominated Miers.

Conservatives have saved him from making a generational mistake.

[irishjuggler]

By essentially damaging Pres. Bush politically, do the anti-Miers conservatives really think they've helped the cause?

Yes, as an anti-Miers conservative, I do think we've helped the cause in the long run. We've sent a message to the GOP that we're not robots. We're not drinking the Kool-Aid. They can't run on a platform of reshaping the Supreme Court with great conservative justices, and then expect us to accept a mediocre crony with no record of practicing (or even advocating) a conservative judicial philosophy. If the President and our GOP Senators learn this lesson, then, yes, we absolutely have helped the cause.

[DuckFan4ever]

By essentially damaging Pres. Bush politically, do the anti-Miers conservatives really think they've helped the cause?

YES. Without a doubt. President Bush is not going to redesign the agenda we elected him enact. He told Trent Lott the conservative revolution is bigger than one man. It is bigger than President Bush. Too bad we didn't stop Soutter.

[Rodney King]

Just my advice. Do with it as you see fit, but I think if we let this fall squarely on the Senators, we are much better off.

I agree that is the better face to put on this, but I don't buy for a second that conservative discord had nothing to do with the withdrawal.

[Luke21]

Rush said it today. Most of us weren't pleased having to oppose the president we helped elect. But a SC nominee is of ultimate importance, Ms. Miers views appeared closer to Diane Feinstein and Earl Warren (her favorite justice) than to Scalia and Rehnquist.

No more Souters.