Posted on 10/09/2005 9:16:21 AM PDT by Ol' Sparky
Miers pick may be splitting solid GOP base
Conservatives' unified front may be coming apart with nomination and other issues
By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - For more than a decade, the Republican Party steadily amassed power by knitting together a resilient coalition of moderates and hard-line social conservatives and factions in between.
For many, a unifying goal of the past quarter-century has been to shift the Supreme Court from what they perceive as the social policymaking of liberal justices and return the court to conservative jurists who would adhere more strictly to the Constitution.
But the umbrella over disparate conservative groups was blown inside out last week when President Bush nominated White House counsel Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The nomination came against a backdrop of growing conservative discontent, caused by the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, surging federal budget deficits, the president's promises of billions to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina, Bush's low public approval ratings and a spate of ethics allegations against party leaders.
These factors were the kindling. Miers, whose approach to social issues is largely undefined to the public, was the match.
The result is that GOP pundits, leaders and activists are flying off in all directions, and Bush is facing more criticism from his own party than at any other time in his presidency.
"I think it certainly could be a sign of bigger problems," said Colleen Parro, the Dallas-based executive director of the National Republican Coalition for Life. "There has been an underlying feeling, deeper than concern, among many Republicans for a long time now regarding the outrageous spending going on, the lack of border security and the threat of terrorism, a whole range of issues. The Miers nomination just caused it to boil over."
"A lot of damage has been done here," she added.
Beyond the party activists, conservative opinion leaders, including columnists George F. Will, Charles Krauthammer of the Washington Post, Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal and William Kristol of the Weekly Standard, have written scathingly of Miers' nomination and provided the intellectual rationale for opposing her when her nomination reaches Capitol Hill.
Republicans have worked hard to build a base among evangelical Christians.
Bush was elected to a second term with more votes than any other candidate in history but by a relatively modest 3 percent margin. Many political analysts credit social conservatives, particularly the evangelical Christians, with helping him win.
After an estimated 4 million evangelicals stayed away from the polls in 2000, Bush political adviser Karl Rove set a goal of drawing more to vote in 2004. Bush succeeded, in large part by standing against gay marriage and pledging to put more conservative justices, in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, on the Supreme Court.
Now the base may be shaky.
"I think you will see that he has broken for all time the bonds of trust that conservatives had with him," said Richard Viguerie, a Republican activist and advertising executive credited with pioneering the use of mail to voters' homes as a way of making pinpoint political appeals.
Democrats have yet to make much of the Republicans' Miers flap, seeming content to let the other party duke it out internally. The reaction from Senate Democrats to her nomination ranged from support to demands for more information about her record.
Making things worse within the GOP are the ethics woes of Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, who faces conspiracy and money-laundering charges in Texas, and Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff tangled in the investigation into whether White House officials leaked the name of a covert CIA operative, Viguerie said.
"When you add all of these things on top of each other, the party is drunk with power, the ethics problems are so thick you can cut them with a knife," said Viguerie, who chaired the Harris County Young Republicans in the 1950s. "I think Republicans are heading for some tough times in the 2006 and 2008 elections."
In contrast to the constantly feuding Democratic Party, Republicans in modern times mostly have obeyed what is known as President Reagan's 11th Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican."
But many conservatives and political analysts agreed that the Miers nomination exposed simmering resentment within the party. Several social conservatives said they have overlooked Bush policies that made them uncomfortable because they believed in the larger goal of placing proven conservatives on the Supreme Court.
Others in the party, the president not least, don't see the matter in such bleak terms. Bush rejected calls to withdraw the nomination and said last week that he thinks Miers will be confirmed despite the grumbling within the party.
Many of his supporters agree, and several dismissed troubles within the party as natural disagreements or news-media hyperbole.
"I think that we are very broad-based with a lot of different opinions, and it kind of goes back to the 'big tent' philosophy," said Steve Payne, a Houston consultant and prominent Bush fundraiser. "It's OK within a family to have discussions, and although you try to keep them private as much as possible, sometimes they spill out in public."
Gloria Gonzales Roemer, a Republican political commentator who works for Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, blamed the news media for hyping intraparty conflict and "searching for anything to grab a hold of."
"There will always be a little bit of discontent, and you voice your discontent when you know the family is secure and there is a strong foundation," Roemer said.
A little meekness and humility, which you praise Miss Miers for, rather than brazen arrogance, would go a long way in avoid any further damage to your party.
Unless somebody launches a halfway credible third party.
Are we? The GOP did pretty good under Gingrich while Clinton was in the White House. They obviously don't appreciate the majority we've given them or what we want accomplished to keep them in the majority.
"surging federal budget deficits" - good guess here,
"the president's promises of billions to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina" - maybe but not too likely,
"Bush's low public approval ratings" - this is a MSM joke, right?
"and a spate of ethics allegations against party leaders" - more wishful thinking. Though there are certainly doubts about Delay in general, the DA attacking him makes him look like a monk.
Back to the drawing board on understanding whatever is happening.
Unfortunately for the left, despite disagreements within the ranks most of the right fully understand the alternative.
I see this a little differently than the column hints at.
This is the biggest gamble of Gwb's domestic policy. When
Meir's is confirmed (even a MD female Sen. supported her)
she then has to perform. If she does not vote "right" then
there will be huge repurcussions. If she does vote in a
manner consistent with the Evangelical bases's beliefs this
will be forgotten. After all a Hillary bid will make Meir's
seem like a municicpal judge race.
Ya, the true conservative might vote for Hillary in 2008 cuz they're so upset w Bush........
Sheesh!!!!
Best bet is that Bush will have one or two more shots to get it right, and won't even think about Gonzales, and nominate a "true conservative.
Just another straw on an already broken camel's back.
Could there possibly have been an unnoticed case of dry rot??
Antonin Scalia Defends Miers
http://FreeRepublic.com/focus/f-news/1499418/posts
Hmm, wonder what all the suacidal pundits are going to say now. Maybe do us all a favor and really pull the trigger!!
Yes, Gridlock works. For the good of the country, we sould never give absolute power to any politician or party, ever again.
Conservatives know if they sink Miers they will never, repeat, never get another conservative on the bench. The Dems and RINOS will be so emboldened that it won't be the president waving a white flag.
As for meekness and humility, you could use a little. You obviously think you know more than Bush, Orin Hatch, or James Dobson.
The dog is in a coma but the tail Wagg'ing betrays its still alive.. kinda
It's not accurate though. This paragraph, imo, is way off base (pun intended) I don't think the discontent on our end is because of Iraq or ethics violations, or even the Katrina stuff. I think the main sticking points have been deficits, immigratiion, political correctness, CFR, and LBJ-like entitlement programs.
What a crock!! The GOP base has NEVER been solid. This nomination has proved that. All it takes is one thing to get a large number of people in a huff, and threaten to take their marbles and go home. It happened in 1992 with Ross Perot. He got the part of the GOP that was pi$$ed at Bush 41 and rode that wave into such numbers at the ballot box that it gave Clinton a pretty easy victory.
We've never been unified, and have the amazing ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory time and time again.
He's in with the Hollywood crowd's financial backers.
I just don't understand the critics. All of Bush's judicial appointments have been rock-solid conservatives who won't legislate from the bench. I don't agree with Bush on the spending, the illegal immigration, etc. but I'm solidly behind Bush when it comes to nominating judges.
Another SCOTUS opening or two is highly likely before Bush's term expires, and he'll have plenty of time to nominate a JRB or a Luttig then. Why waste his ammo now on the cowardly Republican Senators who'll assume the fetal position anyway had he nominated the aformentioned candidates?
Miers pick may be splitting solid GOP base
The GOP did pretty good under Gingrich while Clinton was in the White House. They obviously don't appreciate the majority we've given them or what we want accomplished to keep them in the majority.
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