Posted on 10/15/2005 2:37:57 AM PDT by KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle
Supreme Court confirmation battles usually involve excavations of the nominee's judicial opinions, legal briefs and decades-old government memos. Harriet Miers is the first nominee to hit trouble because of thank-you letters.
Miers's paper trail may be relatively short, but it makes plain that her climb through Texas legal circles and into George W. Bush's inner circle was aided by a penchant for cheerful personal notes. Years later, even some of her supporters are cringing -- and her opponents are viciously making merry -- at the public disclosure of this correspondence and other writings from the 1990s.
Bush may have enjoyed being told by Miers in 1997, "You are the best governor ever -- deserving of great respect." But in 2005 such fawning remarks are contributing to suspicion among Bush's conservative allies and others that she was selected more for personal loyalty than her legal heft.
Combined with columns she wrote for an in-house publication while president of the Texas Bar Association -- critics have called them clumsily worded and empty of content -- Miers may be at risk of flunking the writing portion of the Supreme Court confirmation test, according to some opponents.
"The tipping point in Washington is when you go from being a subject of caricature to the subject of laughter," said Bruce Fein, a Miers critic who served in the Reagan administration's Justice Department and who often speaks on constitutional law. "She's in danger of becoming the subject of laughter."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
" Guessing is only one step up from counting chicken entrails."
As opposed to "Trust me" which is what exactly?
Guessing is not one step away from chicken entrails - it is my best guess based on what i've seen of her and her writing so far.
"However, if she doesn't pass muster, then I will be be looking for the next nominee. I am not so committed to HM or Bush that I cannot accept change, but I want a good judge who knows the Lord and the law. "
Whose version of the Lord? Catholic? Calvinist? Arminian? Adventist? Mormon? Hebrew? Pagan? Muslim? Are you suggesting there should be a religious test for USSCJ? I'd prefer an atheist who reads for original intent to a devout "living constitutionalist.
thank you.... for the "conservatives" that have their knickers in a knot....
take a little 3-4 mile jog out in the Texas brush.
Think of Souter, Thomas, Ginsburg, Kennedy doing that...
Do you think of any of the aforementioned holding a .45 and putting a couple of rounds down range... not a .38 or .380.
She's a "convert" to Christianity. That means she made a "choice" to do so while working in a snake pit that is called the Texas legal system.
Finally, George Bush knows his "friends".... not like Clinton "knew" Lewinsky et al.. but probably knows her tendencies. For those that are blowing smoke about the other "choices" that he might have had..... unless your up in the administration food chain.... you're blowing smoke and don't know cr@p about any of the choices other than what you've read or heard about. I'm almost positive that George Bush has the same info that you all have.... just maybe a little more.
When critics and skeptics hounded Rumsfeld, he stuck by him. When critics and skeptics hounded Rove, he stuck by him. Same with K. Hughes and enumerable other advisers and aides. Bush doesn't give a damn what the libs say, what the WashingtonpostNewyorktimesaljazeeraLosangelestimesNewsweekPeople magazine/poll/survey/television news/cable news thinks about his choice. He made it knowing what he wants and putting it out there for the Senate to vote up or down. I'm thinking this lady is going to be a Texas Ball Buster and the ones that think she's going to be a wimpy self absorbed liberal turncoat are going to be eating crow.
Since when has Bush not kept his word on his appointments or commitments? I don't agree with his border policy, the lack of fight over more tax cuts and the actual cutting of funding to PBS and other liberal quasi governmental agencies.... but all in all, I trust the guy.
I didn't know these guys were in Oliver Twist....kewl!!!
Umm, yes you did:
I have news for you. My best friend teaches Greek at Perkins, and according to him Miers did not have one thing to do with setting up that program.
Were you abducted by aliens who gave you a memory wipe in between posts? Get a grip ;-)
What qualifies you to choose the next justice to the SCOTUS? Obviously, neither one of us have zip.
Hmm, obviously we both have freedom of speech and the right to petition Congress, among other things...
Also (and perhaps not so obviously any more), one of us retains civility in public discourse while the other does not.
Correction: he was trying to make his point, and he failed, as has been pointed out by myself and others, by reason of flawed logic-- which you have yet to refute. Your argument consists of repeating yourself-- not really very effective, under the circumstances.
As does Pat Robertson.
I'd be willing to believe that half the posters here have jogged 3 or 4 miles on a hot day, including myself.
Stuff like this are anecdotal and irrelevant to the question of what a nominee might do if appointed to the SC.
... but all in all, I trust the guy.
Which, boiled down, is the basic argument of the bushbots here. That's not persuasive rational evidence for the qualifications of a nominee to the SC. It's no more than subjective opinion.
(Insert mildly vulgar comment about Dirty Harry said about opinions here.)
Harriet Meirs-- withdraw your nomination before you become an embarrassment to yourself and to the presidency. And have a nice day!
Thanks for posting this.
Translation:
I don't have any evidence so I resort to obfuscation.
:)
obfuscation - that is one physically ugly word. Sounds ugly, too.
You're welcome!
Well, you're certainly entitled to "shun" the GOP if you so choose. But I doubt anyone will lose any sleep over your decision to "shun" either way.
Well, you're certainly entitled to "shun" the GOP if you so choose. But I doubt anyone will lose any sleep over your decision to "shun" either way.
LOL.
Not saying the GOP is that, but it is the result of adding your slight to my objection.
That being the case, I'll settle for any legal means of getting a good nominee through, whether it involves tricking the left or not.
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.