Mark Steyn: Has Bush blown it?

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 10/08/05 | Mark Steyn

[Rummyfan]

Of course, this could all be one big Karl Rove head-fake to make conservatives so hopping mad that the Dems scent blood and kill the Miers nomination, after which they’ve shot their bolt and Bush nominates Scalia Mark Two....

I wonder........

[COBOL2Java]

Some - like you, I presume - maintain it's possible to believe in big government and big spending and paternalistic federal intervention and still be labeled a conservative.

Me? I'm a small-l libertarian. I think it's been a scandal what's become of the Republican party since the Gingrich revolution of '94. It seems that once you get inside the beltway you begin to like it too much. My hero's Ron Paul - wish I lived in his district.

[GraceCoolidge]

Well which way did Souter go? It's not just Ginsberg and Stevens that she's facing, it's the entire hostile DC culture that only the strongest, most intellectual conservatives can prevail in.

But do you think Souter was a true conservative to begin with? My thinking lately (Pollyanna-ish though it may be) is that Ms. Miers' conservatism is entwined with her faith and an integral part of her personal beliefs, making her much less likely to be swayed. I think in that regard, her lack of judicial experience is another plus. Not being part of the "brotherhood" (or sisterhood) of Judges, perhaps she is less likely to yield to their influence. Your argument makes sense if Ms. Miers' conservatism is of the same depth and strength as was Souter's at the time of his appointment. I don't think we have the evidence to support that supposition, however.

[Yaelle]

Stephen Breyer, one of the nine Supreme Court justices, dislikes the term ‘judicial activism’ and prefers to see what he does as part of a ‘democratic conversation’ that’s good for the health of the republic. The Right, not unreasonably, thinks the democratic conversation was held earlier, during the election and then in the legislature and that, having passed a law forbidding, say, partial-birth abortion, they shouldn’t then see it overturned because Justice Breyer wants to have the last word in the ‘democratic conversation’.

SWOON!!!!

[maica]

But there is no record of a developed constitutional philosophy on which we can rely.
#####

I don't want an activist either way. I want someone who will interpret the Constitution, not make law. As a 65 yr old woman, I have great respect for the track record left by any 60 year old American woman who has been in the working world her whole life. If there are skeletons in her career, detractors will come out of the woodwork - as they did to trash John Bolton. We will know of any of her philosophical leanings that will disprove Bush's reasoning, I am sure.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[kingu]

This is a Republic, not a democracy. We do not vote on issues in this nation, we vote for people to vote on those issues, which I'm sure you're well aware of.

Abortion should be a state issue; the SCOTUS stripped it and took it to a federal level using that oddly unwritten privacy clause. Eventually it might return to a state issue and if your state is a democracy, you'll have the ability to vote on the issue.

[Puppage]

SCOTUS is only supposed to rule on issues regarding The Constitution. THAT'S IT.

At least, that's the way our Founding Fathers intended it. Where is abortion mentioned in The Constitution?

[kingu]

Where is abortion mentioned in The Constitution?

In that, as I said, unwritten privacy clause. Perhaps my opinion over this unwritten clause didn't come through clearly - abortion isn't part of the constitution, never has been and I deeply hope it never does.

[hosepipe]

[ Well, we can dream, can’t we? ]

Yeah.. we can.. in this dog and pony show.. but we can't ride the pony. We can however scoop the leavings of the dog.. which it seems to be the purpose of the "conservative" base..

I used to be a conservative once..

[flashbunny]

"so many of us are quick to vocally not trust his judgment. I see that as a serious flaw in logic. "

What a disconnect.

"trusting his judgement" is not based on logic. It is the position based on emotion.

Asking for evidnece, proof - that is the logical position.

Saying "bush is a good man and I like him and trust him" is, by definition, the emotional position.

[NeoCaveman]

Great article from beginning to end.

Tony Blair with a ranch.....roflmao!

[beckett]

David Frum, who worked with her in the White House, is devastated by Bush’s pick, calling her a ‘lovely person’ but a ‘taut, nervous, anxious personality’

Very disturbing news. Taut, nervous, and anxious people do not inspire confidence. I noticed myself the sadness (anxiety's kin) in her eyes. These traits often emerge from a deeply conflicted psychology, and conflicted people are often erratic and weak, blown about by the stronger winds around them.

So we're faced with the prospect of an erratic person being given a lifetime sinecure on the nation's highest court.

Bush's choice is looking worse by the hour, and he's offered no substantive defense of it.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Excerpt for Banglisters:
"...she’s a strong supporter of the right to bear arms. The great Second Amendment expert Dave Kopel says you have to go back to Louis Brandeis 90 years ago to find a Supreme Court justice whose pre-nomination writings extol gun rights as fulsomely as Miss Miers. According to an old boyfriend, Judge Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court, she packs heat — a Smith & Wesson .45 — which I can say with certainty the other lady justice, the far-left Ruth Bader Ginsberg, never has."

[AmishDude]

Let's analyze W here for a moment: For those people who scream "Betrayal!", what do they think W is trying to do, is he:

1. Trying to secretly get liberals onto the court.
2. Lazily trying to get anybody confirmed.
3. Trying to get reliable conservative votes on the court.

It's silly to say he's attempting (1) and I don't think it's (2). It's most clearly (3). Look, she's not a stealth pick in the sense of Souter for two reasions: She hasn't been living her whole life trying to build up SCOTUS credentials (Roberts, for example, has.). And her whole life indicates that she's friendly to both gun rights and the pro-life cause.

In fact, she might be the only "conservative activist" on the court.

[wardaddy]

If I were Rove

LOL...Rove is not president.

[Ramius]

Correct.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

She’s thus another representative of Bush and Karl Rove’s belief in incrementalism — that the Republican majority can be made a permanent feature of the landscape if you build it one small brick at a time. Miss Miers is, at best, such a brick, at a time when conservatives were hoping Bush would drop a huge granite block on the court.

A series of careful steps is more likely to take you across that slippery log over the creek, than a couple of giant leaps which more likely than not will put you into the drink.

[maica]

"trusting his judgement" is not based on logic. It is the position based on emotion.

######

I probably should have said - trust, based on past performance -

For example, as I approach an intersection, I trust that traffic lights are going to work the same way they have always worked. To me that is a logical position.

We have 5 years of past performance of President Bush. That is more data than just "feeling" that he is a good man.

[COUNTrecount]

Many thanks.