Posted on 10/07/2005 3:50:01 PM PDT by Sam Hill
ROBERT BORK CALLS THE HARRIET MIERS NOMINATION "A DISASTER" ON TONIGHT'S "THE SITUATION WITH TUCKER CARLSON"
SECAUCUS, NJ - October 7, 2005 - Tonight on MSNBC's "The Situation with Tucker Carlson," former judge and Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork tells Tucker Carlson the Harriet Miers' nomination is "a disaster on every level," that Miers has "no experience with constitutional law whatever" and that the nomination is a "slap in the face" to conservatives.
Following is a transcript of the conversation, which will telecast tonight at 11 p.m. (ET). A full transcript of the show will be available later tonight at www.tv.msnbc.com. "The Situation with Tucker Carlson" telecasts Monday through Friday at 11 p.m. (ET).
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Why is that Judge Bork? Where are Judges coming from? Who made you Judge, Judge Bork?
No constitutional experience, you say, but attorney Miers can argue in court about it and make her position on the case!
Why not give this Lady the benefit of the doubt, and hear what she is all about.
Just because Ms. Miers never joined the "milieu" of the ah, so, Illuminati in D.C. does not make her an inferior candidate to the Supreme.
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
The poster was a troll. He got zotted in seconds.
You might feel differently if you were being sued by a plumber for your live savings.
Uh, did you know that over 80 percent of Republican senators, including Leader Dole, also voted to confirm the popular Ruth Bader Ginsburg?
I think the claim that Miers was the best nominee he could find really set quite a few people off. It was so blatantly ridiculous the only conclusion one could draw is that this Administration takes conservatives for idiots or simply doesn't care.
I'm not impressed by lawyers or judges.... but the plumber always works hard...
Lawyers are scum.
I'm heavy on the pedantry and light on petulance, quick to correct seeemingly simple error and slow to condemn; I am drawn back each night even when the lights barely shine.
I trust the ground on which the lighthouse rests more than the keeper of the flame.
Even Sekulow, a Constitutional lawyer, says that Miers is going to make a fine judge; she is the president's council, and she works with the Constitution daily in that position.
When I hear someone who calls themselves conservative say things like: "I don't care if she is the best judge on the SC, and makes all the right decisions, she is still wrong for the Court because she is not who we chose to be on the Court" they lose all credibility. I start to think of them as idiots. And that is what Laura Ingraham did this week! She is a Valley Girl extraordinaire, and I do not know if I will listen to her again. What a disaster.
Cynicom, I no more agree with insults of you and others that disagree with this nomination than I do with the insults hurled at Miers. Neither are worthy of FReepdom. It is fair to argue that this was not a good nomination, but it can be done without resort to calling Miers a "paper stapler" and such. Similarly, those who disagree with you can do so on the merits. That sort of tone of discourse separates FR from so many other sites, and is why I am here every day.
I don't know that I would have nominated Miers had I been in Pres. Bush's place, but just as with the decision to invade Iraq, the GWOT and other decisions the president has made, I know that I DON'T know all the relevant facts. If Mr. Bush did in fact miscalculate in this nomination, conservative pundits have made it difficult, if not impossible, to correct the situation. Quiet diplomacy might have resulted in a withdrawal of the nomination under some pretext, but that does not seem possible now.
Frankly, I think it's a matter of both. My dad and I talked about this this morning. Evidentally Miers has been a 'close' and 'trusted' person in Bush's life for years, by his account and hers. That being the case, the fact that she contributed to Gore's campaign says one of two things. That she is either not a conservative and is an outright liar or she knew Bush and still chose to send her money elsewhere.
No matter which way you look at it, it's not good.
She contributed to Gore in 1988, not in 2000....
They sure will.
Outside of the fact that this nominee was not the best choice and could turn out to be a Sandra Day clone melt down, they don't ever address the other damage this nomination has done.
For 40 years conservative organizations and Justices have been setting the table for this moment. Outspoken on the necessity of constitutional Justices on the Supreme Court. They wrote bold opinions, performed bold lectures, made bold decisions. Their message was "constitutional conservatives could and should be on the highest court in the land."
Bush sent them a clear message this week. If you have those opinions, you better keep your mouth shut or you won't be on the highest court in the land. It has become a liability to have "Federalist" attached to your past. What just months ago was trumpeted has now become a dirty thing you once did. "I'm sorry, I didn't know what I was doing. A youthful indiscretion is all." They are now the leper nominees.
This is going to cause many justices who once believed that the outspoken constitutionalist had a place in the courts to change course. If it is no longer discussed in the public arena, it will become more and more unacceptable to the mainstream of America and the Dems arguments of "this is not a mainstream judge" will be more powerful than ever.
Let's pray she turns out to be okay, because enough damage has already been done with her "stealth" nomination alone.
Ain't it the truth!!!
And, how many times have people been wrong about SCOUTS nominees in the past?!
John Kerry.
"Do you honestly believe that if Bush withdrew Harriet Miers' name that he would be in a better position than he is now? Of course he wouldn't. He would have caved. That was and is my point.
The nomination has been made. Conservatives don't like it. Tough. Deal with it.
Do we want a weakened president for the next three years? Apparently so. I don't. We have a war to win. We have other problems to worry about.
Is this the last time GW will appoint someone? Is this the last Republican we will ever elect? Will this be the last opportunity to put another conservative on the Court? No! Not in my book.
Jen"
Yes, I honestly believe that if George Bush were to withdraw the nomination and cave in the face of tremendous anger and opposition from his own base (he has not faced this before), that he would be better off for having done so, in the not-so-distant future.
It would be better still if Ms. Miers, who seems to be a lovely woman and who would probably vote right on the Court (probably...) would see the incredible damage that her nomination was causing to the President she serves, and to the political party she supports - and therefore to the advance of her ideals in the world - if she would decide to withdraw her name from the contention. It would be good if Presidential advisors other than the President were to nudge her in that direction too.
Because here is the alternative: Bush does to his own base what he has done so successfully - stiff armed them and drove ahead. Now, has his approach with the Dems advanced the Republican agenda? YES!
Why?
Because Republicans love a FIGHT!
Republicans and conservatives believe in their cause. They are not afraid to battle it out. Fight, and they rally to the flag. Fight, and you INCREASE Conservative and Republican support, if not in breadth then in depth, because you are out there facing the dragon.
But has one single Dem EVER forgiven Bush for any of those fights?
No.
Do the Dems EVER cooperate with Bush or the Republicans on anything?
No.
They resent him. They hate him. They think he is high-handed and arrogant, and they fight him to the death on every issue.
So, how does Bush get ANYTHING done? By a united, battle-hardened, discplined Republican right.
That's where Bush learnt the lesson to never back down. Because backing down in the face of the LEFT weakens the Right, but fighting them strengthens the right.
And that's why we're in terrible danger that his wires are fatally crossed here, and that he is going to use all that testosterone and stubbornness to stiff-arm HIS OWN BASE.
He's made a choice. It was an error. He never has backed down in the past, and never admits error. But it's always been his ENEMIES demanding him too, seeking a weakness.
This time, it's his friends. We DON'T WANT THIS NOMINEE. We want someone who is 100% certain, proven, trained conservative strict-constructionist judge. He surprised everybody, and the surpise was very unpleasant. And the boom of displeasure is reverberating all across the party. The coalition of the Right is furious. And they fully expect Bush to do TO THEM what he always does to Democrats: to stiff-arm them. To refuse to admit error, or to back down.
Now, remember that no Democrat ever forgave it.
But no Republican is going to forgive it either.
In anticipation of the high-handed stubbornness, the right already has started citing the litany: Open Borders, Medicare benefit expansion, the New Deal for the South Coast, etc., etc. They all expect Bush to stiff arm him, because that's the Bush they know (and usually love), and so they're all preparing the reasons why it will be ok to hate him forever and abandon him when he does.
And they will.
So, you see, that's the problem. If Bush backs down in the face of outrage from his base, he is forced to be humbled, but the Republican Right can dis-arm this suicide bomb they've wrapped around the whole party, and will detonate if it isn't defused. You say Bush will be weakened if he backs down. But he won't be. If he "stays the course", he will be fatally weakened politically. The Dems will continue to hate him, and a lot of folks on the right will hate him. The maneuvering to be the next party leader will begin (and Bush won't get to name his heir apparent, because there will be a powerful, perhaps majority, faction that will want to be done with all things Bush.
If be backs down, he strengthens his position.
The sigh of relief, and DESPERATE charge to make amends among all of those Republicans who are doubting right now, and resolving on why they hate Bush: it will be palpable.
They will welcome him back in the fold with pats and with commiseration and with TREMENDOUS gratitude and relief that he didn't go nuts and take them all over the cliff.
They CAN'T back down now, but he can.
It will do him further good too, because then he will turn around and nominate PRECISELY the sort of candidate that the Right wants. And then everyone will love him again, and he will have turned the weakness into a strength. Moreover, the Republicans will be PSYCHED for a fight. Having practically torn each other to pieces, they will POUNCE on the Democrats, and particularly on any resisting RINOS.
It would be like asking for a declaration of War on September 12, 2005: all of this anger and vitriol aimed at Bush will be deflected.
The President MUST back down here.
Harriet Miers must pull back her nomination, and he must regretfully accept it, and then name somebody hard-core. He can take his revenge by putting Miers back in the White House office and forcing her detractors to deal with her. That's his style.
But fighting this one to the death with his own base will be the death of his base, and the end of the effectiveness of his Presidency.
In short: we are not Democrats, but if we get stiff-armed, we're going to be just as angry and unforgiving as they are, and that means disaster.
He has to back down, or, better still, his faithful servant and friend, Harriet Miers, needs to save her friend the President and pull back.
But SHE WON'T.
So he's going to have to do it.
How nice!
She's been called a paper stapler, a woman with NO accomplishments, etc.
Still no where near as vicious as what the left did to Janice Rogers Brown.
But it's interesting how ugly a temper tantrum can be no matter who is throwing that tantrum.
The left wishes harm on America and now the right is doing the same to the President.
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