When President Bush nominated John Roberts to the Court, liberal interest groups like NARAL and People for the American Way were burning up the fax lines within a matter of minutes, denouncing Roberts and demanding that the Democrats block him. This time? Nothing. Check out the NARAL and PFAW web sites. Nothing but bland press releases adopting a wait-and-see attitude.
What did happen within 30 minutes of Bush's announcement was a press release by Harry Reid that included the statement, "I like Harriet Miers." It's hard to avoid the suspicion that Bush's nomination of Miers reflects some kind of deal with the Senate Democrats. Such as, the Dems gave Bush a list of candidates they would deem "acceptable" (pending Judiciary Committee hearings, of course), and Bush chose the best candidate he could off that list.
Is that what happened? I don't know, but the theory seems to fit the facts. Why would Bush accede to the Democrats rather than fight for another Roberts-type conservative? The only reason I can think of is that liberal Republicans in the Senate, starting with Arlen Specter, told him they wouldn't back him up if he replaced Sandra O'Connor with a strong conservative. There are enough RINOs in the Senate to make such a threat credible, I think.
This is pure speculation, but it is one scenario that seems to fit the facts as we know them so far.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), specializing in constitutional law said today that Harriet Miers, the nominee named by President Bush for a seat on the Supreme Court of the United States, is an excellent choice who represents the conservative mainstream of judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution, not re-writing it.
“Once again, President Bush showed exceptional judgment in naming Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court to replace Justice O’Connor,” said Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the ACLJ, who argues regularly before the high court and has a pro-life protest case at the high court this term. “At a time when the high court is facing some of the most critical issues of the day – including a number of cases dealing directly with abortion and life issues – the person who replaces Justice O’Connor is critical. Harriet Miers is an excellent choice with an extraordinary record of service in the legal community and is certain to approach her work on the high court with a firm commitment to follow the Constitution and the rule of law. I have been privileged to work with her in her capacity as White House counsel. She is bright, thoughtful, and a consummate professional and I enthusiastically endorse her nomination.”
http://www.aclj.org/news/Read.aspx?ID=1911
I think the democrats are not complete idiots. They saw how badly they screwed up the Roberts nomination -- by the time they knew they should hate him, they had already called him evil with no evidence, and nobody was listening to them.
Surely they learned to wait for the hearings now before screaming about how evil the candidate is.
Do you expect NARAL to support an evangelical christian? Do you think the liberal groups will support a contracts lawyer?
They are trying to look more "thoughtful" than they did last time. Plus, I think they are shocked at the pick, and not ready to respond.
My "proof" is that even we here got confused as to which "Exodus" group she was associated with, but now that we know: Is there any chance PFAW wouldn't have loudly opposed anybody who worked for that type of organization if they were READY with the information?