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READ MY LIPS: THOMAS AND SCALIA
Me | 10-7-02 | Me

Posted on 10/07/2005 8:51:48 PM PDT by Urbane_Guerilla

Don't you remember the utter let-down when elder Bush broke the fundamental promise he made, "No new taxes"?

The promise was not merely a bow to the Laffer curve, it was an emotional and pyschological statement to the many people in this country who still believe in constitutional goverment, and who knew that taxation was the means to undermine constitutional government, liberty and freedom, to put it another way.

The younger Bush promised a Thomas or Scalia for the same reasons: to tell the believers in constitutional government that supporting him would mean a definitive change in the jurisprudence of this country, jurisprudence which adhered to the basic concepts in our Constitution, not to a sort of current intellectual church of what's happening now.

In both cases, there was an even deeper issue, the issue of integrity. Integrity is the first principle of conservatism. Integrity means an unflinching openness to the facts and faithful adherence to principle.

"No new taxes," "Thomas and Scalia."

Unlike the Left, conservatives usually have the integrity to call out their own, regardless of political cost. The subtle political benefit of integrity is that there are so many people (conservatives) who vote for the politician who is actually honest.

Now, it is not a matter of calling out one of our own. It is a matter of calling out a charlatan, who pretended to be one of our own.


TOPICS: Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: elitism; harrietmiers; lookatme; runyourself; seminarposter; snob; supremecourt; supremevanity; vanitypost; worthlessvanity
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To: TheForceOfOne

If he says "shrub," call the kitties. :-)


101 posted on 10/07/2005 10:42:37 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: quidnunc
I'm not a conservative, much less a Republican, first.

I have three priorities.

Patriotism, conservatism, and the Republican Party, in that order!

And my allegiance to the last is only as binding insofar as it adheres to the first two principles enumerated.

102 posted on 10/07/2005 10:43:00 PM PDT by Do not dub me shapka broham ("I'm okay with being unimpressive. It helps me sleep better.")
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To: Howlin
"Our own" what?

I understand why you ask that and it is a good point.

By "our own," I might mean something different from some folks in the forum.

By "our own," I mean a person who favors a jurist who believes in the original intent of the Founders.

By "our own," I mean someone who believes that government operates the best, when it does the few things it is supposed to do, in a way which is respectful of the people.

By "our own," I mean a person who is fundamentally influenced by the joy of being a free person instead of someone who is fundamentally loyal to the person who holds a government post.

103 posted on 10/07/2005 10:43:27 PM PDT by Urbane_Guerilla
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham
A more apt analogy would be a member of the College of Cardinals who was eligible to be selected as the next pontiff, but who had spent sixty years of his life desperately avoiding comment on any controversial doctrinal issue.

You're on my turf now. Joseph Ratzinger was deemed, by the media and most Catholic commentators and by me, frankly, as too old, at 78, to be elected to the papacy. He was written off prior to the conclave.

Ratzinger was also typed as a stuffy old fuddy-duddy, doctrinally conservative, and ready to roll back Vatican II.

He has proven to be totally opposite of the dire forecasts. He is open, he listens, he is a focused, polished speaker, and has, as his first priority, Jesus' mandate that "they all may be one," that is, the reunion of Christian Churches.

Ratzinger was an inspired choice for pope, and, I believe, Miers is an inspired choice for the Supreme Court.

104 posted on 10/07/2005 10:45:07 PM PDT by sinkspur (American Staffordshire Terriers should be bred out of existence.)
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To: Urbane_Guerilla

I think Bush has let a large portion of his base down. With the pool of proven conservative originalists to choose from, his Mier's pick has me just shaking my head.


105 posted on 10/07/2005 10:45:23 PM PDT by doesnt suffer fools gladly (Bush haters are insane.)
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To: KingKongCobra

LOL!


106 posted on 10/07/2005 10:46:42 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham
Excuse me, but it appers you're advocating

A LITMUS TEST

Conservatives are against those; why are you here?

107 posted on 10/07/2005 10:47:55 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Urbane_Guerilla

No politician who wishes election to national office can avoid telling powerful groups what they want to hear. Look up Thomas Jefferson's campaign speeches, Andrew Jackson's, Lincoln's. Compare what they said while on the stump with what they did in office.

Just the way democracy works. The Demos has a very short memory.

Perhaps the last President that I see as honest was John Adams. Eugene McCarthy was the most honest candidate in my lifetime. Just how it is.

By the way, I was mad as a hornet over the "no new taxes" business. "No new taxes" was the elder Bush's whole election campaign. He got Clinton elected. A bit much.


108 posted on 10/07/2005 10:48:03 PM PDT by Iris7 ("Let me go to the house of the Father.")
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To: Do not dub me shapka broham
Mark my words.
109 posted on 10/07/2005 10:49:08 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: sinkspur
But Ratzinger had a clearly delineated-almost overpowering-philosophy.

No one was questioning his credentials to be the vicar of Christ.

No one was scratching their heads, wondering what fundamental beliefs he valued above others, even if there were debates over what specific policies he might implement during his pontificate.

Harriet Miers is a blank slate.

A question mark.

This is not how you go about reshaping the Supreme Court.

110 posted on 10/07/2005 10:49:50 PM PDT by Do not dub me shapka broham ("I'm okay with being unimpressive. It helps me sleep better.")
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To: sinkspur

And they've been like that for five straight days, 24/7.

One might even consider the fact that that one has an agenda and/or is being paid.


111 posted on 10/07/2005 10:49:53 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: sinkspur
Give her a hearing. Let her share her views with the Senators, and with us. If she fails, she will go.

She is entitled to a hearing and your position is a fair one, but a failure scenario appears unlikely barring some major embarassment or faux pas on her part-thus I predict she will be confirmed even with a sub-par showing and that will be that.
112 posted on 10/07/2005 10:50:28 PM PDT by Blowtorch
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To: Howlin
Actually, I'm currently looking for gainful employment.

If I were getting paid for each cogent reply that I've made to a poorly-conceived argument in favor of the Miers nomination, then I would be rolling in it.

113 posted on 10/07/2005 10:51:52 PM PDT by Do not dub me shapka broham ("I'm okay with being unimpressive. It helps me sleep better.")
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To: Spiff

The President of the United States disagrees with you, so therefore HE must be betraying you.


114 posted on 10/07/2005 10:52:14 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Texasforever
The truth is they want their own Warren court and they are every bit as willing to destroy any nominee that does not share their zeal. I am as sick of the far right as I am of the far left.

Me, too.

They WANT the GOP to fail.

115 posted on 10/07/2005 10:53:17 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: Iris7
Just the way democracy works. The Demos has a very short memory.

The truth is the best. Liberty and freedom are the fundamental truth of human existence.

116 posted on 10/07/2005 10:54:29 PM PDT by Urbane_Guerilla
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To: doesnt suffer fools gladly
...his Mier's pick has me just shaking my head.

Rest assured, you're not alone in your consternation.

117 posted on 10/07/2005 10:54:51 PM PDT by Do not dub me shapka broham ("I'm okay with being unimpressive. It helps me sleep better.")
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To: Blowtorch
Until the hearings; you know, the very thing called for in the Constitution?

Once we find out it will have been too late to do anything about it anyways, except damn the President.

Well, you're already doing that, so you're way ahead of your game plan, aren't you?

118 posted on 10/07/2005 10:55:14 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: quidnunc
My question for these people is, if they make a point of not being loyal to the Republican Party then why should that expect any loyalty from the Republican Party?

Precisely! The old "Just try to win without us" mantra is false; it is THEY who cannot win without us, simply because we actually HAVE a party and ELECT people to office.

They are here for two reasons: because they 1) don't have a party of their own, and 2) want this one.

Most of the people on this "demand" threads never supported Bush in the first place way back in 1999.

Again I ask, who are the *real* Republicans In Name Only.

119 posted on 10/07/2005 10:57:59 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: DCPatriot
He's proven in 5 years, he's got gravitas ...up the whaazooo!

CFR
Amnesties for illegals
Norm Mineta

120 posted on 10/07/2005 10:58:04 PM PDT by dagnabbit (Vincente Fox's opening line at the Mexico-USA summit meeting: "Bring out the Gimp!")
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