Senator Feinstein echoed Reid statement today as well:
"I call on the President to name a nominee in the mainstream of American jurisprudence, who can help bring this nation together and demonstrate a scrupulous knowledge of the law and a judicial temperament that enables support by both sides of the political aisle.
I would urge the President to take his time in naming a new nominee. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has agreed to continue to serve and much more important is the quality of the nominee rather than the immediacy of the appointment.”
The ranking member of the Judicary Committee, Senator Leahey, has also added in his two cents:"
“I look forward to consulting with the President on his third nominee to succeed Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court, and I hope it is a decision he approaches with the necessary independence from partisan factions. All Americans appreciate Justice O’Connor’s willingness to continue her service long past when she had intended to retire from the Court.”
These statements all contains threads that the Democrats will use now with great effectiveness, thanks in large part to the heavy handed tactics of many on the Right.
"necessary independence from partisan factions"
"should not reward the bad behavior of his right wing base."
"take his time in naming a new nominee."
So give yourselves all a pat on the back, secure in the knowledge that you have given the Democrats a bat to beat over the head of the next nominee.
And Reid's recommendation was enough that she should have NEVER been nominated in the first place.
Funny, the Dems are reading the exact same talking points as the die-hard Miers supporters here on FR. How do you suppose that happened?
According to Harry Reid and the liberals "Consitutional Rights = Abortion".
Um...no.
Miers withdralw plays into the hands of a better Supreme Court for the next 20+ years.
That in itself trumps all other political considerations.
Reid's endorsement of her was the kiss of death. He should blame himself.
Thanks. I never realized that I had any hand in nominating the manifestly unacceptable Miers. I was under the impression that this nomination was the most colossal and egregious screw up in Mr. Bush’s life, not mine. Any stick the Dems hold was handed to them by Mr. Bush, not Miers’ critics.
rigid ideologues...????
that good ole dingy harry, now there's one
non-rigid ideologue.....LOL
Bring it on. It is time for a showdown.
Like I said on the other thread, I didn't know where to stand on this nominee but given that Democrats are squealing so much about it, I have to wonder if this nominee would have been another David Souter.
"I call on the President to name a nominee in the mainstream of American jurisprudence, who can help bring this nation together and demonstrate a scrupulous knowledge of the law and a judicial temperament that enables support by both sides of the political aisle.
This is a joke, right? Did Ruth Ginsburg represent the "mainstream" of America? But I'll bet Ms. Feinstein voted to confirm that extremist! These Democrats whining about the "far right-wing" is a joke, considering they would confirm a "far leftist", activist judge in a heartbeat!
Pity they turned out to be no different than the movement folks on the left.
This is just spin. Miers is out. I'm sure her replacement will be indisputably conservative. If the Dems want to try to make that an issue, that's fine. So will we.
Sometimes I wonder who “W” is more afraid to fight, the jihad nutbags or the liberal nutbags.
"He should reject the demands of a few extremists and choose a justice who will protect the constitutional rights of all Americans."
Huh?!? Naaaaaah, that's a typo. It should be:
"He should reject the demands of those who believe in the Constitution and listen to me and a few other extremists and choose a justice who will invent new constitutional rights for some Americans."There, fixed it for ya Harry. Much better now.
/s
The democrat motto......
I'm convinced now, that this was a set-up all along, to embarrass President Bush.
Poor Dirty Harry is sad! Him and the Gang of 14 don't get to pick the nominee anymore...
The nomination to the US Supreme Court is of far greater importance than some short term political squabble. It is about the philosophical make-up o fthe Court for the next 50 years, and whether we continue to get more Roe and Lawrence type decisions.
The fatal blow to her candidacy was the release of her 1993 speech. Read the pertinent excerpts. It is clear that her worldview is not in the mold of Scalia or Thomas; rather she has the Anthony Kennedy "autonomous self" point of view.
We were kidding ourselves and hoping that she was the type of Supreme Court Justice that Bush promised us in the campaign , which formed the basis for why we voted for him.
Don't worry about the Dems short term whining. If he now appoints a Scalia/Thomas-like justice as promised, this is a long term good thing.
Besides, Miers looked too much like the two comediennes on SNL.
Reid has to hold his pro-fillibuster coalition together. It wont be easy.
You're right. We should just do whatever the Democrats say. If we don't do what they say, we are playing into their hands.