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Krauthammer: Retreat (on Miers' nomination to SCOTUS)
Townhall.com ^ | 10-7-05 | Charles Krauthammer

Posted on 10/06/2005 8:54:53 AM PDT by cgk

Edited on 10/06/2005 9:03:34 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

WASHINGTON -- When in 1962 Edward Moore Kennedy ran for his brother's seat in the Senate, his opponent famously said that if Kennedy's name had been Edward Moore, his candidacy would have been a joke. If Harriet Miers were not a crony of the president of the United States, her nomination to the Supreme Court would be a joke, as it would have occurred to no one else to nominate her.


(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: crony; harrietmiers; krauthammer; miers; scotus
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To: verity
"There are 1,084,504 lawyers in the U.S."

Which means, given the power the SCOTUS has taken by fiat, that 299,000,000 of us are de facto eliminated from considering the course of this nation.

Now that might be OK I suppose if lawyers were indeed the best, the brightest and most resouceful members of our society and the US was constitutionally designed as an oligarchy chosen from that strata but none of that is true.

The smartest and most resourceful guy I ever knew in my 55 years was a damn mechanic. He would read "Congress shall make no law" and that would be that, he wouldn't see an 'except' in there.

321 posted on 10/06/2005 12:03:17 PM PDT by jwalsh07
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To: cgk

You know, it occurs to me that the only good argument against Miers is that no one knows her well enough.

Is that really a good enough reason to oppose her before she even gets to the Senate confrence room???

My conservative friends and Idols, breathe until the hearings begin. Please, we still need our unity!


322 posted on 10/06/2005 12:03:20 PM PDT by Danae ( Anál nathrach, orth' bháis's bethad, do chél dénmha)
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To: Earthdweller

Of course I am. Didn't you know? :-)

I'm not ashamed of supporting this man.


323 posted on 10/06/2005 12:03:53 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: longtermmemmory
The objections are based on not coming from a SNOB school.

Many of the objections are because American instinctively believe in meritocracy and cronyism immediately rubs the wrong way.

The burden on the crony is high and here nowhere near reached.

324 posted on 10/06/2005 12:06:00 PM PDT by Sabramerican (Islam is to Peace as Rape is to Love)
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To: Howlin
So typical of a lawyer, ask you a question and then tell you what your answer should be.

Now you're just sputtering ineffectually.

You go ahead and have the last word. I'm finished with you here.

325 posted on 10/06/2005 12:06:04 PM PDT by borkrules
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To: Mamzelle
He's Canadian, too.

Was

326 posted on 10/06/2005 12:06:11 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper ("Don't Get Stuck On Stupid!" - Lieutenant General Russell "Ragin' Cajun" Honore)
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To: borkrules

So I'm excused? Thanks, Counselor.


327 posted on 10/06/2005 12:07:26 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: stop_fascism
Oh my gosh, slapped down by the devastating wit of someone who went to a third tier law school. Lucky for me you didn't attend Stanford.

Are you saying SIU is up to the third tier? YES!!!!
328 posted on 10/06/2005 12:08:00 PM PDT by SalukiLawyer
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To: teenyelliott
I don't know anything about Miers other than what I have read since her nomination.

That's what this nomination process is for. Without it, we'd have a whole bunch of stealth candidates on the bench.

329 posted on 10/06/2005 12:11:07 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper ("Don't Get Stuck On Stupid!" - Lieutenant General Russell "Ragin' Cajun" Honore)
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To: SalukiLawyer

I usually judge a University by their basketball team, so I guess you're first tier. GO, FIGHTING SALUKIS.


330 posted on 10/06/2005 12:11:19 PM PDT by stop_fascism
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To: borkrules
"I think its the argument that the President has made the political calculation"

Could be, but if so he needs a new calculator. This calcuation seems to have badly pissed off the conservatives in the GOP big time. And without the conservatives the GOP is toast. I haven't made up my mind about Miers yet, I am very unhappy about her supporting Gore for president over Bush the elder and her being pretty much a life long democrat. Very unhappy about that, but I will wait a bit longer before deciding.

331 posted on 10/06/2005 12:11:32 PM PDT by jpsb
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To: jwalsh07
The smartest and most resourceful guy I ever knew in my 55 years was a damn mechanic. He would read "Congress shall make no law" and that would be that, he wouldn't see an 'except' in there.

Your remark here (and many like it in other spots on these threads) seems to be indicative of a belief that Supreme Court justices only look at the Constitution.

There are volumes of federal laws on which the Supremes are routinely called upon to interpret and opine.

That's not a defense of "elitism" it's just a fact. Look, Miers has the training that is necesary to do the job. A mechanic does not.

The objection to her nomination is not that she is not at all qualified by virtue of a lack of education. It is that this nomination is hard to explain in light of all the other equally qualified by education candidates who also are known quantities when it comes to their constitutional jurisprudence. In short, we are being asked to take a pig in the poke solely on the word of the President. He may have good reasons for this choice (see my post above about political realities) but that is what this comes down to.

332 posted on 10/06/2005 12:12:49 PM PDT by borkrules
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To: longtermmemmory
The elitist bruised feeeeeelings argument is extremely true. The talking heads basically "drank the kool aid" that only a "Yalie" or "Haaavaahrd" grad have the brain power to make judicial rulings that affect "the little people".

Then why are they all wishing that Janice Rogers Brown was appointed? Or Priscilla Owen, who went to Baylor?

333 posted on 10/06/2005 12:15:53 PM PDT by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: Paladin2b
But in 1971 he had proven that he was fully engaged in the debate on the issues of constitutional theory, by academic papers and scholarship, by his work in the Justice Department, and by the nature of his private practice in Arizona...Miers has none of this.

Sure she has. Most people around here think she was a "go-fer" fetching coffee and donuts. She become a lawyer in a day and age when women had a hard time achieving such credentials. She eventually worked her way up to the top, heading the Texas Bar and heading a large law firm in Dallas. Sure she clerked for a Conservative Texas judge, but that was one of the rungs on the ladder toward the top.

White House Counsel may seem insignificant to some, but it's not.

334 posted on 10/06/2005 12:18:42 PM PDT by BigSkyFreeper ("Don't Get Stuck On Stupid!" - Lieutenant General Russell "Ragin' Cajun" Honore)
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To: Pondman88

We IVY League elitists fart in the general direction of YOUR presidents pick!

We will never like one of yours *makes fart nose*

Anal cavity too tight to actual produce the real thing.

lol
335 posted on 10/06/2005 12:18:51 PM PDT by TheForceOfOne (It was a village of idiots that raised Hillary to Senator status.)
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To: Earthdweller; Howlin
You too..calling Howlin a Bush bot???...

It IS pretty funny, considering how many times she's almost taken my head off; and I'm much higher on the "BushBot Scale" than she is!

That's what I can't figure out about this whole thing: if you're stance is "wait-and-see" like Howlin (and me), you're a BushBot!

336 posted on 10/06/2005 12:19:24 PM PDT by Warren_Piece (Nashville, TN)
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To: longtermmemmory
The elitist bruised feeeeeelings argument is extremely true.

I agree. It isn't where you go to law school. It's who you make friends with afterwards!
337 posted on 10/06/2005 12:19:38 PM PDT by SalukiLawyer
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To: BigSkyFreeper
That's what this nomination process is for. Without it, we'd have a whole bunch of stealth candidates on the bench.

I really don't think we can expect to learn a whole lot about Miers' jurisprudence during her nomination hearings before the very learned Senate Judiciary Committee. If recent past experience is any way to judge.

That's why conservatives who believe as I do would have preferred a known originalist with a history on an appellate court or in scholarly writings or political activity or hell, something, anything other than "Bush has looked into her eyes and seen her heart with his piercing presidential gaze of discernment".

But hey, trust Bush, right? He's never made a mistake before. The guy's almost supernatural that way. It's not like this is a lifetime appointment that the base has been waiting on for 20+ years or anything important like that.

338 posted on 10/06/2005 12:21:38 PM PDT by borkrules
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To: cgk

Does anyone remember the name of that young girl whose body was discovered in the woods near DC. A congressman was implicated because of a romance with her. What ever happened about that? I saw that video of her every day for, like, forever, and now I can't remember her name.

Also that girl on the Island. What's with that lately. Are those Dutch boys still claiming innocence? Can't remember her name either.

And, I can't help wondering, did anyone ever figure out what happened to Vince Foster? Was that really a suicide or what?


339 posted on 10/06/2005 12:22:17 PM PDT by altura (Trying to change the subject)
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To: Sabramerican

No, qualification has been established.

The elites have to howl in futile protest because this has the potential of breaking their assumption of qualification.

Kerry and Bush both went to Yale, yet clearly Kerry was not up to the task.

This is nothing more than a simple transference of the elites who think GWBush was only admitted to Yale and then Harvard because he had "connections".

I have appeared in court before judges who have never worked a non-goverment job, and judges who have worked in the real world. The judges who have worked in the real world are far more effective than those who have not.

I do not want another snob justice who thinks law conferences at quaint european resorts represent the entirety of the real world.

I want someone who had to work, pay a mortgage, work to find a job to be the one listening to the next eminent domain case.


340 posted on 10/06/2005 12:22:17 PM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE!)
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