Posted on 10/27/2005 6:09:25 AM PDT by procomone
WASHINGTON - Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.
Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.
"It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel," Bush said. "Harriet Miers' decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers — and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her."
And that has to do the question as to what Bush has learned how?
Bring on Janice Rogers Brown!
I didn't like her nomination, but thought the president deserved to have his nominee have her day at the hearings. I think that the Concerned Women of America call to withdraw her nomination yesterday had a lot to do with this. They are a powerful group and held their fire for a long, long time to sift through the evidence. When they finally decided to not support her, they met with Dan Coats yesterday and explained their decision. Miers lost grassroot support. But I still believe she should have been given the opportunity to appear before the judicial committee.
"The thing I learned from this is to not expect better reporting based on facts from the National Review than from the New York Times."
Amen to that.
"This was President Bush's attempt to reach out to the conservatives more"
I subcribe more to Frum's theory. That is, Roberts was for the base, and Miers was for him and his legacy, whatever that is. Giving presidents more independance in waging the terrorism war? Miers, IMO, was not meant for us.
"I would not be surprised to see a nominee we like even less."
That would more or less blow out of the water any argument that he's some sort of conservative who's bringing the movement into the modern context. It would reveal him to be a "centrist" or New Deal establishment type. ie. not a reformer of the status quo, but actually to the left of Bill Clinton.
JRB is pro-death? Where did you hear that?
About damn time.
Thank you, Chas. Krauthammer, for the exit strategy.
Right. If he nominates a strict constitutionalist/originalist then the conservative pundits will sing her praise, FoxNews will sing her praise and the WORST the libs/media can do is discount her positions - posititions the MAJORITY of Americans agree or would agree with. We're in a win/win position with a fight!
"But he (Gonzalez) has the same internal Administration documents problem that was the reason for Meirs' withdrawal. They have to pick someone not currently serving in the Administration."
EXCELLENT POINT.
You must be kidding.
I didn't elect Ann Coulter, Charles Krauthammer, or any other elite pundit snob to anything...I hope you people who felt like the President owed you something personally are happy. The combined chorus of your whining has run an honorable person out of town on a rail before she even had her chance at a fair hearing.
I voted for George Bush to represent my interests as a Republican and to execute his duties as the POTUS. He did just that according to his judgment. I might not like all the decisions he makes, including his SCOTUS nominations, but he's our president and it's his call. If you don't like it, tough. We had our chance to oust him a year ago, and we didn't.
The people's will is expressed at the ballot box, not in the op-ed section of the Washington Post. That's how the system is supposed to work.
you're right, it is worth fighting for, but if you do not have to go looking for confrontation. My objection to Harriet Miers is that there are many other far more qualified candidates. There are very conservative candidates that are highly qualified that can be confirmed without things going nuclear. That is the path Bush needs to take now.
He might want to nominate Gonzalez--but Gonzalez will have exactly the same problem as Miers, if the "access to confidential White House documents" is really the reason (or even the "reasonable" excuse) for her withdrawal.
Bullshit!
What IS clear is that senators rightly would not be staisfied until they had SOME small indication that Miers had at least some semblance of qualification for what is arguably one of the most important jobs in our federal government.
Well put!
Thank You!
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Wonder if he has learned anything.
Yep, he's learned that conservatives will turn on him like a pack of dogs just as fast as liberals will.
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So what part of the pro-abortion speech did you like best?
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