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 ...
Who was also considered "not qualified enough" by many on the right at the time. In the FWIW department.
Please note, that is not an argument for Miers. Just an argument for keeping an open mind.
"What? Why would personal correspondence like that be released? Where did it come from?
/obviously not paying attention to something."
I wish you quoted me because I have no idea what you're talking about.
Sorry! If I'm not careful, someone will post that bunny/pancake picture.
I was referring to the Belated Birthday Card graphic. Is that real and if so, why would the White House release such a thing?
While some correspondence is a reasonable way to assess writing style...I would HATE to be judged by the inane garbage I put on quickly dashed out Birthday Cards.
"I was referring to the Belated Birthday Card graphic."
From what I've read, that card is real. It was sent to Bush from Miers when he was governor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Miers
Nonsense. Aren't you the one who unreasonably challenged Ann C. to a duel in another response (since pulled by the moderator after I brought it to their attention)? I protest that in frustration at your own lack of ability to mount a counter to the abundant and well-reasoned arguments why the Miers nomination should be retracted, you're simply continuing to project your own "blindness and venom" on others such as myself. Show me public record of strict constructionist stand by Harriet Miers and I'll reconsider.
Hugh Hewitt, an attorney, thought it was great. Several individuals have thanked us for posting the email.
Big deal, there are always those who indulge in wishful thinking as a substitute for logic and reason. Good luck to them and to you.
Harriet Miers-- withdraw your nomination. NOW!!
"More and more, the intractable problems in our society have one answer: broad-based intolerance of unacceptable conditions and a commitment by many to fix problems."
-Harriet Miers
And we both know who did it.
Well I wouldn't be a RINO and I wouldn't be a worshiper of Mr. Wonderful.
Yes, we do.
You.
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