The Miers revolution [Offending your supporters has real-world consequences]

National Post ^ | Oct. 11, 2005 | David Frum

[KDD]

dressed up for battle and the battle doesn't take place?

JRB has already passed Senate confirmation to the Federal District Court. Why do so many supporters of this Miers nomination neglect to mention that fact. It would have been interesting to see the hoops the democrats would have had to jump through to deny her appointment to the SC at this point. It was all set to go and Bush blew it. And naming Roberts CJ was a slap in the face to Scalia and Thomas...both or either of whom should have been moved into the first chair.

[Cboldt]

but in the end you want people who will vote the way you want them to. Demonizing them is not a great way to get that to happen.

-bump-

That's worth repeating.

[wmfights]

Go ahead give us Hillary and a Dem Senate. Isn't that what being led by a bunch of Rino's is like?

[jackbenimble]

Then why is such a vocal minority willing to throw stones at the President's nominee before the hearings?

Perhaps because we don't expect to learn anything relevant about Ms. Miers during the hearings. Like Ginsburg and Roberts she will (rightly) refuse to answer any questions which reveal how she might rule on matters that come before the court and by the time the hearings are over we will still be in the exact same position we are now. We will have to trust the President as to whether or not her judicial philosophy is conservative or more importantly originalist.

As another poster correctly pointed out, if the hearings were revealing, how did we get Souter?

The President's political appointments lately have been highly suspect. Remember his appointment of Bernard Kerick who turned out to be just short of a criminal to head Homeland Security? And more recently we get Julie Myers heading ICE and she has no discernible qualifications. And then there is Mike Brown at FEMA. And Alberto "the illegals are otherwise law abiding citizens" Gonzalez as Attorney General. In his first term the President appointed a really strong team. His second term appointments have been weak and have shown rather poor judgment tainted by undeniable cronyism.

I am not inclined to blindly trust the President. I won't speak for others but I want the nomination derailed (withdrawn or voted down) and I think it is more likely to happen if we raise hell before the hearings then if we wait until they happen and we have learned nothing that we don't already know. I rather doubt I'll succeed but at least if there is yet another Supreme Court nomination by President Bush I have a feeling he is not going to be anxious to repeat this mistake and that in itself is worthwhile.

[GB]

They would have jumped through those hoops and absolutely would've filibustered her, and IMHO it would not have been broken. And I say that as someone who would turn cartwheels of joy to see Janice Brown on the SCOTUS.

Again, everyone is presupposing that this was a winnable fight simply because she was confirmed before. There isn't an automatic connection between the two.

The biggest problem here is the fact that we blew the one chance we had to invoke the constitutional option and fix this problem once and for all. We are paying for that. Thank you, Dr. Frist.

[syriacus]

Perhaps because we don't expect to learn anything relevant about Ms. Miers during the hearings.

I understand your fears.

[GB]

If this nomination goes down, we're not going to get Brown. We're not going to get Luttig. We're not going to get Jones. We're probably going to get Consuelo Callahan, who I actually thought Bush was going to pick in the first place.

And all this stuff will start going around and around again.

[monday]

"How did ya feel concerning Kennedy, Souter and the rest of the home run conservaives who turned out to be closet liberals?"

George Bush is a "compassionate conservative". I don't understand why anyone thinks it is the least bit surprising that he would choose someone like Miers. She may be a bit slow, and unqualified, but she most certainly is compassionate.

[wi jd]

3. Have you thought of spicing up your screeds with MORE COWBELL?

David Frum puts his pants on the same way you do, one leg at a time. But when they are ON, he makes gold records.

[syriacus]

His second term appointments have been weak shown rather poor judgment tainted by undeniable cronyism....

I remember the charges during his first term that he was chosing his father's cronies.

His father's cronies were acceptable, but his aren't?

[Mini-14]

Bush's decision to submit his personal lawyer's name for nomination to the Supreme Court has made me question the other things he has done, like promoting the war in Iraq.

He snookered us with Harriet Miers and maybe he snookered us with fake reasons for going to war.

[rbmillerjr]

"Thanks, still sitting at 70% unopposed."

You are an idiot,,,you are counting all undecideds for Miers lmao.

BTW folks, the scientific Gallop poll is actually showing more conservatives against the nominatin that FR. Kind of a surprise,,,FR is actually less conservative than the mainstream conservative in the Party.

[Cboldt]

If we get Hillary and a DEM Senate, it will be the GOP's fault for losing, not mine.

[syriacus]

She may be a bit slow,

Exactly the type of comment that makes her deserve a hearing....to defend her self from the rock-throwers.

[KDD]

The biggest problem here is the fact that we blew the one chance we had to invoke the constitutional option and fix this problem once and for all.

The nuclear option is still on the table. Finding a reason to disqualify a candidate you had already confirmed once before would be difficult.

And "Trust me" sounds to much like "read my lips".

[syriacus]

JRB has already passed Senate confirmation to the Federal District Court. Why do so many supporters of this Miers nomination neglect to mention that fact.

Because Bush didn't nominate JRB.

[Cboldt]

FR is actually less conservative than the mainstream conservative in the Party.

A substantial fraction of FR parictipants are party hacks. Of course they agree with what their leader has done, and their participation skews the FR polls.

[rbmillerjr]

You are absolutely correct.

[monday]

"---This anecdote almost invites the retort: Well why don't we go all the way and put Barney the purple dinosaur on the court?---

That would be OK I guess, as long as we run it by Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh..."

Wrong. Putting morons on the supreme court is wrong no matter how many people you run it by.

[jackbenimble]

We're probably going to get Consuelo Callahan, who I actually thought Bush was going to pick in the first place. And all this stuff will start going around and around again.

I didn't realize that President Bush was a masochist.