Posted on 10/05/2005 7:12:52 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
(AgapePress) - During a heartfelt and compassionate broadcast this morning (Wednesday), Dr. James Dobson explained why he believes Harriett Miers -- President Bush's pick to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court -- deserves the support of Christians and other family advocates.
The Focus on the Family founder took all of his daily broadcast today to share why he believes the relatively unknown attorney from Texas who has served as White House counsel under the current Bush administration will be a good addition to the high court. He said he knows and has spoken to people who have known Miers for years, and that he has confidence in those people's opinions.
Those individuals, says Dobson, have confirmed reports that the 60-year-old nominee is an active and dedicated Christian who serves in her nondenominational, evangelical Dallas church -- Valley View Christian Church. "She is a deeply committed Christian," said Dobson, "and a tithe-paying member" of her church, according to those conversations. LifeNews.com reported this week that Miers has taught Sunday school and served on the church's mission board for years. And the pastor of her church, according to that report, is a staunch pro-lifer.
According to a New York Times article yesterday, Miers made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ in 1979 and was baptized soon thereafter at Valley View Christian Church. Her longtime friend, Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan L. Hecht -- who prayed with Miers when she accepted the Lord -- told the Times he knows where she stands on abortion. "Yes, she goes to a pro-life church," he said, adding, "I know Harriet is, too."
Dobson also took time during his broadcast to address recent allegations that Miss Miers, in the late 1980s, had voiced support for homosexual rights and financially supported the presidential campaign of Democrat Al Gore. Dobson noted that in a 1989 survey Miers said she supported equal, not special, rights for homosexuals -- a stand consistent with his own beliefs, said Dobson; and in the same survey also state she did not support repeal of the Texas sodomy law, a statute that was later overturned by the Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas.
And regarding the Gore campaign contribution, Dobson pointed out that in 1988 Al Gore was pro-life -- a stand the vice president-to-be would ultimately change, perhaps for political expediency, Dobson suggested.
But aside from Miers' apparent stand on hot-button social issues, Dr. Dobson spent ample time explaining why he believes President Bush ought to be trusted on his selection of the former head of the Texas State Bar. Thus far, he said, the president has been true to his campaign promise to place conservative, strict constructionist judges on the federal bench. So the ministry founder wonders why -- with his political legacy hinging so heavily on his judicial appointments -- would the president "sabotage" that legacy with an appointment inconsistent with his own tenets.
"It would contradict his basic philosophical beliefs," said Dobson. And lest he be accused of being a "shill" for the president, Dobson noted that he does not agree with every policy coming out of the White House, such as how to deal with illegal immigration. But as far as the Miers nomination is concerned, he said, "I believe in trusting this president at this time."
Dobson concluded by saying that if he is wrong on the nomination of Harriett Miers, he will come before the microphone and "repent."
Reports Distorted, Says AIM Meanwhile, the watchdog group Accuracy in Media says some members of the conservative media are distorting portions of Harriett Mier's record. AIM says reports that the Supreme Court nominee is on record supporting the establishment of the International Criminal Court and homosexual adoptions are erroneous.
"There's no evidence for the charge," says AIM's Cliff Kincaid, adding that the "documents" allegedly supporting the reports have been "seriously distorted by WorldNetDaily and other outlets."
AIM also says a Chicago Sun-Times columnist is guilty of perpetuating the inaccurate reports. The columnist, Robert Novak, wrote that Miers chaired a panel the "recommended legalization of gay adoption and establishment of an International Criminal Court." But Kincaid says Miers was chair of a panel that simply passed along recommendations from various entities in the American Bar Association for consideration by members of the ABA.
AIM says "there's no evidence that [Miers] put her personal stamp of approval on those controversial positions."
And and largest number are willing to wait until they know more. That's my position as well. Anyone who is bashing her before knowing anything about her, before she even testifies before the committee, has an agenda.
The wait and see is my position as well, as well as Senators Coburn and Brownback. I see no reason to punish her for the president's hubristic "trust me" approach. OK, in full disclosure I was hot about it for the last two days.
I posted enough information to show Gore was pro-life in his earlier political career and that Dobson was telling the truth .
marker
Do you have a link for this information or are you just smarter than everyone else?
This country is great because it doesn't matter who your family is or what school you attended, each is judged on their own worth. I intend to see her worth or lack thereof in front of the judiciary committee. That is, provided we can get those windbags to stop pontificating for ten minutes and actually ask probing questions regarding her judicial philosophy and not wasting everyone's time asking what no sane person would answer, or any judge COULD answer and maintain their objectivity.
Now that was never my position. Sure it seems to be Ann Coulter's and George Will's among others.
Of course I am bummed that we didn't get Mike Luttig, I belive he went to U. Virginia or Maura Corrigan who I believe went to Michigan State and if we wanted to go with a non-lawyer there was always Mark Levin or Ann Coulter, or that prof Eastman from Chatman who is always on Hugh Hewitt's show, they all have Constitutional law experience.
My fear is that if the Senators don't waste all their time bloviating (some chance of that) and actually ask short pertinent questions - commerce clause, cruel and unusual, lemon test, etc. I fear she may get creamed. I know that Eastman/Coulter/Levin could handle those because they have dealt with them. Who knows, maybe Miers can too.
In summary, I will view and make up my mind about Miers during the hearings with no prejudice about how GWB ducked a fight.
University of Detroit-Mercy (Catholic school)
woops, non-lawyer = non-judge.
I got to log off and get some sleep.
Better yet :)
unless it's Jesuit
I need to see the hearing before saying yea or nay. I'm not ready to fire both barrels at Bush over this.
It is.
The fight should never have been over this seat. The fight will come when Stevens retires in the coming year. The man is 85 years old and is having a hard time even walking. I expect Dubya knows something that we don't and he's pocketing his chips for the one that will count.
Those who want a bloody fight will see one only on this one, the gang of 14 will have already given their word.....in exchange for something they asked for and accepted.
Dubya doesn't run from fights, he picks his fights and plays poker exceedingly well.
Looks like the Administration damage-control team is in high gear. I'm sure they'll be parading all kinds of apologists out during the next few weeks. I wonder what it will cost us taxpayers?
What do they have to apology for? Do you have some information about Miers the rest of us don't ?
No, I don't.
For me it is not of a question of whether I trust the President. There was no president I trusted more in my lifetime than Ronald Reagan, and two out of three of his (confirmed) picks were um... disappointing.
i would come out of the woodwork to testify that you don't have the judicial temperament for the bench, sweety pie : )
/understatement
i did tend to think that those with some grounding in reality would have a hard time sustaining the high level of hysteria that has been rampant on FR. welcome back.
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