Posted on 10/16/2005 6:13:39 PM PDT by StoneGiant
Time Magazine reports today that the White House recognizes that they have muffed the Harriet Miers nomination, and want a second chance to make a first impression. After having argued almost everything except a track record that would settle questions about why President Bush selected her over more obviously qualified candidates, the administration admits it screwed up and plans a new public argument for her confirmation:
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Get ready for a whole new Harriet. After a disastrous two weeks, White House officials say they hope to relaunch the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court by moving from what they call a "biographical phase" to an "accomplishment phase." In other words, stop debating her religion and personality and start focusing on her résumé as a pioneering female lawyer of the Southwest. "We got a little wrapped around the axle," an exhausted White House official said. "As the focus becomes less on who she's not and more on who she is, that's a better place to be." So, as the White House counsel begins her formal prep sessions this week for a confirmation hearing that's likely to start in early November, President Bush will hold a photo op with former chief justices of the Texas Supreme Court who will testify to Miers' qualifications and legal mind. The White House's 20-person "confirmation team" will line up news conferences, opinion pieces and letters to the editor by professors and former colleagues who can talk about Miers' experience dealing with such real-world issues as the Voting Rights Act when she was a Dallas city council member and Native American tribal sovereignty when she was chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission. |
Well, I'm still open to any convincing argument from the White House. They might serve themselves better by simply allowing Hugh Hewitt and Beldar to run their campaign, because they have provided the only coherent defenses of the Miers nomination that I have read. The challenge for the White House will be to show why Miers presents such a remarkable and unique opportunity for George Bush to shore up conservative values and originalist philosophy on the court, especially given the choices open to the President with this selection.
That will still be a tough sell. If Miers has any sort of remarkable and unique contribution to conservative efforts, not too much evidence of it came forward in the first two weeks of the nomination. My prediction will be that the administration will talk more about some of the work she did for her clients, a list of big corporations such as Microsoft, defending them against predatory litigation and that type of work. Again, that would speak well of her as a litigator and an attorney, but conservatives will expect something more significant than just client work. After all, during the Roberts hearing, we heard over and over again -- for good reason -- that client work does not tell anyone about the judicial philosophy of the attorney in question.
At least the administration staff has realized that they flunked the first two weeks. Perhaps we'll see something we can support in the next two weeks.
Time Magazine..............no more needs to be said.
If they want a do over they should pick someone else.
There is NO evidence Miers is a conserative or that she even has a judicial philosophy. Nothing will change that.
You mean the "she walks on water" line that sucked in the likes of Dobson and Robertson didn't well....it didn't hold water, so now we focus on her...ahem...record. Yea, that's the ticket her record. I wonder why they didn't pick someone with a record. It would have made their pitch a bit easier.
ping
Coming soon! New, Improved Harriet Miers!
Now with 50% more hyped accomplishments!
Less religion, more of the same "what were they thinking?" taste!
Have an old 25% off O'connor or souter coupon? For a limited time, we will also be accepting your old coupons for previous "trust me" republican supreme court picks.
Maybe I'll go back and check it out now. ;)
Looks like flashbunny actually read the article and believed it. :)
Hey White House ... if you find yourself in a hole ... stop digging.
I might just hang around. This could get interesting. :)
That was my reaction. I haven't been involved in the Miers wars here, but anyone here taking up with Time needs to have their head examined.
One more case where far right travels far enough around the circle to meet the left....
I'll be interested in seeing how many of our resident extremists cheer the leftist position on this one.
Apparently quite a few here do.
When did Time join the ranks of The Onion and Scrappleface?
Yeah, and the Captain's Quarters.......... just another Democrat shill.
;-)
"More and more, the intractable problems in our society have one answer: broad-based intolerance of unacceptable conditions and a commitment by many to fix problems."
-Harriet Miers
Just based on that sentance alone, she is unqualified. A commitment by many to fix problems, YECH!
It sounds like something my kid would have written in the 7th grade. And my kid is a great kid, with a great personality, very smart, great leadership skills, and absolutely NOT SCOTUS material, nor never shall be.
I still can't believe Bush did this. How did he not have a clue that this would cause an uproar? Where was the commitment by many not to cause problems? How could this woman even have accepted the nomination? It bespeaks both vanity and ambition on her part, that is being overlooked, but it is manifestly true.
looks like you actually think that I care what you think!!!
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