Tony Snow and Thomas Sowell: A Little Rationality on Harriet Miers

Opinion Columns | 10/07/2005 | Tony Snow, Thomas Sowell

[counterpunch]

The people shilling for the administration on this one can't answer the primary criticism: Miers is not the best person for the job. Period. They keep trying to convince us that we should trust Bush because he's appointed conservatives elsewhere. But he's also appointed liberals. They tell us she's the right pick because she's an Evangelical, a woman, a victim, a Bush pal. Everything BUT what we want to hear: a conservative Constitutional scholar. Even if Miers turns out to be Clarence Thomas in a skirt, it doesn't matter. We want more than just another vote. We want a leading conservative legal mind. It's not merely the quantity of the votes we care about, but also the quality of the opinions.

There are countless people in the conservative judicial movement who have been working in the trenches for decades for this moment. Bush's big mistake was to try to intermix the different factions of his base. He stuck a religious conservative figure where he should have showed deference to the conservative judicial establishment.

[ConsentofGoverned]

you got it, the president has some splane'in to do.

Mr BUSH drop the wanna be "lotto queen."

[reg45]

Fourty would be even better.

[reg45]

I am totally in agreement with Thomas Sowell's comments. With the Democrats marching in liberal lockstep reminicent of a Red Square parade, it would only take a few defections from the ranks of the RINOs to defeat a more obviously conservative appointee.

[tai-pan]

thanks, but I prefer these
Tony Snow
Thomas Sowell
hehe

[razorback-bert]

Bill Kristol or the cat... hmmm, I take the cat.

[The Ghost of FReepers Past]

Actually, that makes sense too. You have to look at the whole body of work to understand where the person is coming from.

[Miss Marple]

The President is appointing the most conservative nominee that will get confirmed. Why is this so hard for you to understand? If you will read Thomas Sowell's column, he makes it clear that not only Chaffee, Snowe, and Collins were not going to support someone like Owens, but also Specter and Warner opposed a nomination like that. That doesn't even count Graham, McCain, Hagel, DeWine, and Voinovich. He said that she was the best candidate because, given the limitations, she is.

And I don't care about getting a brilliant legal mind on the court. A workaday attorney with some common sense, integrity, and a desire to interpret the Constitution as written is all that I need.

Other than to a few people who read Supreme Court opinions, brilliant writing doesn't really matter nearly as much as the decisions handed down.

[Hoodat]

Dr. Sowell proves once again his brilliance. Maybe we can get him to replace Greenspan as Fed Chairman.

[counterpunch]

She won't get confirmed. Democrats are going to demand documents regarding her role in Abu Ghraib and Gitmo policy, and the White House will refuse. They will use this as a reason to vote against her to a person. They will be joined by at least 5 disgruntled Republicans.

Miers will be defeated by a broad left-right coalition, and the Bush administration will be mortally wounded.

[pugmama]

Coulter was a guest on Bill Mahr's show. She said the President had nominated a cleaning lady to the Supreme Court.
It got a great laugh.
This was a vicious remark and shows me what Coulter is.
I am done with all the talking heads on both sides.

[Miss Marple]

Yes, I know that is your fondest wish, since you keep trumpeting it on every thread. She will be confirmed, and the influence of people like Ann Coulter will be diminished, as, indeed, it has already been.

Opposition to this nomination might have been considered seriously had people not immediately gone into venomous rants and hysterical hypotheses. Most of the senators will grumble, but they will vote for her because she won't give the Rats a good target, and they are not foolish enough to destroy a sitting president of their own party with 3 years left to go in his term. The liberal Republicans will support her because she is the direct result of their bull-headedness; the conservative senators will realize that although she isn't a famous conservative jurist, she will vote as an originalist.

And youwill be proven wrong.

[Miss Marple]

I know. I read the thread about her appearance. In addition, one poster told me on another thread that she said she would pop the cork on a champagne bottle if Karl Rove is indicted.

I didn't hear the program, so that second comment may have been misunderstood. The cleaning lady comment was verified by several people. I believe there is something wrong with her, and she should seek medical help.

[MrNatural]

..The President is appointing the most conservative nominee that will get confirmed..

This is the literal reality. Anyone with a basic knowledge of the make-up of the senate recognizes that none of our favorites is at all likely to even get out of the Judiciary Committee, let alone through the whole process.

I am really beginning to think that this selection has pulled some kind of emotional rug out from under a lot of otherwise reasonable conservatives. Something must be at work that has sent so many here up in flames. The nomination was a surprise, yes; but looking at the facts, this is a smart, hard-working, devout conservative woman. The men who wrote the Constitution were not law professors; they wrote it in very plain and understandable language. It doesn't take highly trained scholars to interpret. We want someone that will judge issues before the court in the light of what the Constitution says; and I think Bush has picked Miers to fit that bill.

All the wailing and gnashing of teeth by people who should know better is actually beginning to make me think this may be Bush's master stroke.

[pugmama]

My theory is many of the conservative punditry think they helped to get Bush elected because of their sage advice-written and spoken.
He didn't listen to them re this nomination so they ( who always thought he wasn't such a smart man) have now pulled away their support .
Hiding behind Harriet Miers, they are suggesting out loud that Bush is really as stupid as everyone thought he was.
Am sick of them all and I will not listen to them or buy another one of their damn books.

[counterpunch]

Yes, I know that is your fondest wish, since you keep trumpeting it on every thread.

No, its not my fondest wish. It's my worst fear, which is exactly why I've been trumpeting it... as a WARNING. I'm constantly surprised by how much people like you underestimate the Democrats. You should know the way they operate by now. You've had 5 years to learn.

They WILL use the confirmation hearings to attack White House policy.
They WILL demand internal documents.
They WILL oppose Miers on the grounds that the administration won't turn over documents.
They WILL accuse the White House of being evasive.
They WILL charge a cover-up.
They WILL call for an investigation.

Keep hiding your head in the sand, but that won't save Bush from this nomination blowing up in his face.

[dirtboy]

This was a vicious remark and shows me what Coulter is.

I've never joined the Ann Coulter worship society on FR because I think she is an overall deteriment to the conservative movement with her rudeness. We don't need to be vicious and petty to win.

And she has completely gone over-the-top with these kind of comments.

[dirtboy]

Gee, let's run down your playlist:

They WILL demand internal documents.
They WILL oppose Miers on the grounds that the administration won't turn over documents.
They WILL accuse the White House of being evasive.
They WILL charge a cover-up.
They WILL call for an investigation.

They have done exactly this, what, about fifty times already?

And exactly what friggin' good has it done them?

[counterpunch]

And exactly what friggin' good has it done them?

It has kept Bush on the defensive instead of the offensive. It has held down Bush's approval ratings. It made what should have been a walk in the park landslide election victory for Bush into a narrow escape. It will defeat the Miers nomination and undermine Bush's strength as President. And with his approval numbers at an all time low and no fear of the perfumed prince Kerry becoming President, the charges just might finally stick this time for good.

One thing for sure is it has certainly never done Bush any good either, unlike a fight in the Senate over Janice Rogers Brown.

[dirtboy]

It has kept Bush on the defensive instead of the offensive.

I guess that's why we never got tax cuts. Or approval to invade Iraq.

It has held down Bush's approval ratings.

You need to follow polls that aren't skewed towards Dems. Rasmussen has him near 50 percent - or just under the number of folks who re-elected him.

It made what should have been a walk in the park landslide election victory for Bush into a narrow escape.

That is from media bias. And the funny thing about bias - if they are going to rip into you no matter what you do, why care what they are going to say? And despite all the lies and bias, Bush won anyway.

It will defeat the Miers nomination and undermine Bush's strength as President.

Yeah, sure.

And with his approval numbers at an all time low and no fear of the perfumed prince Kerry becoming President, the charges just might finally stick this time for good.

Only for certain hand-wringer types.