Posted on 10/14/2005 5:13:15 PM PDT by Stellar Dendrite
PHILADELPHIA - (KRT) - Americans "deserve better" than President Bush's "trust me" approach to the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said Friday, making his sharpest critique yet amid a right-wing revolt over the pick.
Santorum added, however, that he had not decided to oppose Miers and hoped to learn more about her views during confirmation hearings.
"There is a lot of heat. I think there is a lot of disappointment that the president didn't put someone up there with a record we could examine," Santorum said on a local radio show.
"It is what I term the president's second faith-based initiative, which is `trust me,'" Santorum said. "I think, candidly, we deserve better than that."
Until Friday's remarks and brief comments during a visit Thursday to Chambersburg, Pa., Santorum had mostly confined himself to saying he didn't know much about Miers. His reticence was a marked contrast to the criticism from other conservatives, such as Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. - who declared he would vote against her - and Trent Lott, R-Miss.
Santorum's views could be important because of his influence among Republican conservatives and because, as the party's No. 3 leader in the Senate, he has been closely tied to Bush's agenda. Santorum faces a tough re-election fight next year against Democratic State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. - who says he will wait until after the confirmation hearings to announce his position on Miers.
National conservative leaders across the country have excoriated Bush for picking Miers because she has no record on constitutional issues, either as a judge or an academic, that might reassure them she would hew to a philosophy of judicial restraint on the high court. Others have said they wanted to see indications Miers was opposed to abortion and gay marriage.
Miers, a Dallas corporate lawyer who was the president's personal attorney, is the White House counsel.
In the summer, Santorum was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic backers of Bush's nomination of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., convening a media conference call within hours of the announcement.
"When they nominated John Roberts, I was, `Sounds great,'" Santorum said Friday, in an interview after an anti-poverty forum at the Sunday Breakfast Mission in North Philadelphia. "I think we deserve to know more, we deserve to have someone ... who has a record - not a better record, just someone who has a record."
Santorum said he was not hearing a great deal from his political base about the pick, but, "I am not hearing a lot of enthusiasm. If I am hearing anything, it is negative."
Conservative leaders in Pennsylvania said reaction to Miers among the rank-and-file has ranged from puzzlement and disappointment to hope.
"It's difficult to be enthusiastic when her resume and philosophy are undefined," said Jeff Coleman, a former state representative from Indiana County now with a conservative think tank in Harrisburg, Pa.
"The president has earned respect with his choices on judges, but it's `trust but verify' on this one," Coleman said. "We'll all be leaning into the television to hear her answers on the first day of the confirmation hearings."
Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, said most conservatives are taking a wait-and-see approach. "It's disappointing the nominee is not someone who's clear-cut," Geer said, but even if she were, there is no guarantee. "It's hard to predict, even with a track record," he said, noting that several Supreme Court nominees have confounded the presidents who appointed them.
In recent days, the White House has stressed Miers' born-again Christian faith in an effort to shore up conservative support for the nomination. She is a member of the Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, a congregation based on a strict reading of the Bible.
That approach has worked for William Devlin, an evangelical who heads the Urban Family Council in Philadelphia.
"Here is a woman who's been very public about her conversion to Christianity. Why can't conservatives trust her?" He said conservative critics sound like pessimistic "lemon suckers."
For his part, Santorum said he would base his decision on what he hears from Miers in the coming days.
"I am going to give Harriet Miers her day in court, if you will, before the committee, and have an opportunity to talk with her and give her every opportunity to let her show us what kind of judicial philosophy she has - and whether she is in fact the kind of person we want on the court," Santorum said on the radio program.
ping
ping
The bottom is really starting to fall out on this Miers nomination. Last one out, turn off the lights.
It is what I term the president's second faith-based initiative, which is `trust me,'" Santorum said. "I think, candidly, we deserve better than that."
"Too bad you supported the RINO in '04 and are now going to lose your seat because of it."
This time Santorum, the next time the other RINO-PA representative--the Scottish law expert.
Winning my support back.
LOL...need I say anything?
If I lived in PA I would be fighting for his defeat. Unless he wants to sign on to a new conservative motto, something like...No RINO's Never Again, for any reason.
Gosh, and I though that Santorum knew what it felt like to campaign for someone, then have him basically stab him in the back....
I guess not.
Santorum pissed his seat away and now he is trying to drag others down with him. I wish Santorum the best. But, he is in for a tough fight and needs all the friends he can find, yet he burns bridges.
Sans-scr*tum is about as republican as michelle mooron
FYI...
Nice pair Rick...try to be that way consistently please.
Ping....thought you would be interested in this...
Defeat Santorum so Bob Casey gets elected? Sorry, I'm going to vote for Santorum. If Specter croaks, Ed Rendell will replace him with a Democrat, probably from Philadelphia. Rendell is very unpopular in Western PA. If Santorum distances himself from Bush on immigration and out of control spending, he might have a chance to win. I don't want two 'Rats representing PA in the Senate so I'm voting Santorum.
Brownback already declared that he would vote against her, period, without even a hearing?
Hope not. Didn't think he was that much of a moron.
Dan
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.