Posted on 10/03/2005 4:35:19 PM PDT by quidnunc
Rush Limbaugh has found the information that Harriet Miers is an evangelical Christian, a member of a church in Dallas that most would describe as "fundamentalist." I believe that this vindicates my earlier analysis based on mistaken information about a Ministry supported by Ms. Miers.
Blue state fundamentalists tend to hate evangelicals the way that Islamists hate Jews: viscerally. It will take enormous willpower for many of them to avoid saying that one who believes in the literal word of the Bible should not be allowed a place on the Supreme Court. They played footsie with the position that a devout Catholic would be disqaualified.
To partially quote my earlier post: this is a battle the Democrat left can't win with a majority of the American public, which sees religious faith as a good thing. As far as I am concerned about the coming attacks, Dirty Harry summed up my feelings: "Go ahead — make my day."
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I worked and voted for Bush to make these decisions. I did not vote for the asshole kristol or frum or rush or buchannon to make these decisions.
It is neither proper or polite to call Stephens, a Justice of the Supreme Court an "old fart".
The proper term is "Liberal Geezer".
I keep hearing that, and from what I can tell, it's probably a good thing that Miers isn't a typical pointy-headed deconstructionist straight from Yale Law School.
Quid...We have a lot of conservative Christians here that spew their invective at "fundamentalists".
"Stevens will be retiring before his term is out."
John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice, was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 20, 1920.
85 years old. Time waits for no man.
He's 85-ish (not sure of his precise birthdate.) Once past 80, the odds on average of dying in a particular year are about 20%. Ginsberg (72) is younger, but has health problems. Souter (66) and Breyer (67) are a few years younger still. Even so, there are effectively 3 years remaining in Bush's term during which he would be able to get a nominee confirmed, and the net chance of one of the aforesaid Justices dying or retiring per year is no more than 30%. So, the best case is that there's no more than a 90% chance that Bush will be able to choose one more Justice.
I think a nomination to a lifetime, unaccountable position deserves a little more qualification than the "President likes her". Might be enough for a position in the Administration, but not for a body capable of abrogating even more of our rights than have been done already. I'd think a little evidence that she meets the criteria that were used during the campaign and for endless fundraising appeals. But then, I'm probably out of step. I have this funny characteristic of people living up to what they promise. Naive, isn't it?
Ages of the justices:
Stephens - 85
Ginsberg - 73 and cancer survivor
Kennedy - 69
Breyer - 67
Scalia - 69
O'Connor - 75
Thomas - 57
Souter - 65
Roberts - +/- 50
The odds are that one or more of the justices will retire for health reasons, or die in the next 3 years. Just my opinion.
Many conservatives on this board treat social conservatives in the same way as Dems treat black folk. You marginalize us for daring to question a questionable nominee. We have waited for a generation for this opportunity and you accuse us of going off half-cocked. Amazing.
With so many solidly conservative judges out there fighting liberal insanity on the bench, what are her credentials that qualify her as an outstanding jurist?
And just what exactly are your facts?
Really...I would love to hear them.
No. Scalia himself has described himself as an originalist. I spoke with him two years ago and he flatly denied that he was a textualist or constructionist.
The President also likes Bill Clinton.
In response to the comments about other members of SCOTUS possibly retiring or dying before Bush's term is over, it's certainly a possibility. But we can't count on it.
More important, we need to make every SCOTUS appointment, and every other judicial appointment, as strong as possible. It may be a long time before we get another window of opportunity like this one to turn our courts around, and we can't afford to waste a single appointment.
If Bush gets the chance to make three or four SCOTUS appointments, so much the better. But he can't afford to kick away any of them.
As for the RINOs in the Senate, there are ways of dealing with them. LBJ or Mike Mansfield would have kept them in line. All Bush has to do is tell these guys, vote my way, or your state gets no pork for the next three years. And mean it.
But, thanks for trying ;-)
Fine, what are they? Wishes? Those endorsements are from conservatives I respect. I guess they mean nothing to you, so the FACT that she has these meaningful endorsements is something you make fun of.
Nice.
Democrats didn't bat an eyelash when they asserted rather openly that a Biblical literalist should not be Attorney General -- ask Ashcroft about that. I don't know why it would be any different with a SCOTUS nominee.
"How old are Kennedy and Souter?"
They're relatively young - 60s, I think. Stevens, on the other hand, is as old as dirt. And, not to be ghoulish, I hear Ginsberg's health isn't very good. There was some speculation her retirement would precede Renquist's, but we know how that turned out.
True, but he didn't nominate Clinton to the SCOTUS, now, did he?
I have a simple test: Is this an outstanding nomination? Miers doesn't pass that test.
This republic is too far gone to afford anything less than a paragon of judicial scholarship. Betting that Stevens will quit in time to fix it is a very risky move.
I say she has something else, something that is extremely valuable and has been lacking on the court. I think she is a consensus builder. Both Scalia and Thomas are totally brilliant, but they have been unable to bring others to their side of the arguement. I think Ms. Mier possesses this talent in spades. To argue a point takes brains, to argue a point and convince others you are right without insulting their intelligence and convincing them to join you takes brilliance.
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