Posted on 10/09/2005 3:28:25 PM PDT by Pukin Dog
I decided to end my self-imposed exile from posting due to information that I received this past weekend from ‘a little birdie’ in Washington, which I subsequently had confirmed by another ‘insider’ if you can call him that.
You know I won’t tell, so don’t bother asking me for names, links, or further information. I trust these individuals, and have received accurate information from them before and shared it here on Free Republic. Of course, all are free to either accept or reject what I am about to share, but if you know anything about the Dog, I don’t change my mind often, and my only goal is to pass on information that can help support the Conservative agenda.
Issue 1.
Information was shared with me on Saturday, which described in no uncertain terms that Harriet Miers stands as the only nominee on Bush’s list which has any chance of confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The reasons for this are numerous, and would be embarrassing to the Conservative movement should one or many of the ‘stars’ who we hoped Bush would select be shot down in Committee, which again, if true, would be a certainty.
More than one of the persons we might have wanted made it clear to the President that they would not accept his nomination if selected. You can draw your own conclusions as to why, but the only hint I will provide is that data mining works too damn well these days. What we saw back when Clarence Thomas was nominated would seem like a walk in the park, compared to what would be done to some of our most popular jurists.
Our Democrat opponents have been quite busy, especially after John Roberts embarrassed them, searching for any information that would allow an open personal attack on a nominee. Sadly, many of the folks we wanted badly would have had their lives destroyed had they attempted confirmation to the bench, and wisely declined. There is no one among us who has not done (or had a family member do) things that we either regret, or would rather keep to ourselves. Because none of us are perfect, it is possible that had one of our choices been selected, we might have lived to regret that day for a very long time.
Issue 2.
Arlen Specter is in my opinion, a traitor to the Conservative movement. He has made it clear to the White House that he is determined to protect his legacy, by NOT supporting any name among those who might make it possible to overturn Rowe V. Wade. What that means, is that had Bush put up someone who might make us proud, Specter reneged on a PROMISE to support Bush’s judicial nominees in return for his, (and especially Rick Santorum’s) support for his re-election. This promise was made when there was strong consideration for removing Specter’s pending chairmanship in favor of John Coryn, or an extension to the term of Orrin Hatch.
The removal of Specter from the Chairmanship would have been disastrous, because he would have remained a committee member, and would have sided with Democrats against the President’s selections out of spite. So, why not simply remove Specter from the committee? That would have been really bad PR, considering Specter’s health issues at the time these decisions were being made.
One could argue that it might have been best to send up nominee after nominee, even if eventually defeated, but remember that O’Conner is only around hoping for a quick confirmation so that she can be with her ill husband. Bush was under the gun to come up with a confirmable candidate, or risk a Supreme Court not running at full strength as important rulings came under review.
I am told that Arlen Specter has gone back on every single promise he made when his chairmanship was still a question, and feels untouchable now that he is ill, because any punitive measures taken against him would be seen as ‘less than compassionate’ by the MSM and Democrats, who admittedly would have a field day, were Specter punished for his duplicity. The sad thing is that after “Scottish Law” or even the “Magic Bullet theory” that some think that anything that Arlen Specter says can be trusted. Sure, he supported Clarence Thomas, but does anyone believe that Specter would still be a Senator if he had not?
Issue 3.
Let’s face it; our Republican Senate is an embarrassment. From the weakness of Frist, to the petulance of the dude who ‘thinks he is leader’ McCain, down to his McCainiac compadre Lindsey (tinker-bell) Graham, to the nut from Mississippi who thinks he can actually get his leadership position back by actively rebelling against the President, we aint looking to good at all.
Our Republican Senate has as members at least 7 Democrats who could have never gotten elected as Democrats, who nonetheless support the Democrat agenda whenever they can get away with it, which unfortunately due to the weakness of Frist, is all too often. I find myself wishing Tom Delay would run for the Senate against Hutchinson, just so we can have someone in the Senate not afraid to break some heads to get things done. Why can’t we have a Republican Lyndon Johnson when we need one?
Because our Republican Senate is so weak, President Bush cannot rely on them for much. He could not have gotten majority support in this current Senate for any judicial nominee that would have made us proud. The usual suspects have made it clear to the President that any nominee who would have put their re-election prospects at risk would vote against that nominee. The bottom line, is that the Republican Senate is made up of too many who want the job, but not the work. The only job they see before them is that of getting re-elected to another six year term.
Luttig, McConnell, JRB, Owen, Alito, or anyone else you want to name, would have been defeated, and probably defeated in committee, in order to save other Senators from having to vote them down on the floor. Of this, I am now convinced. Only two names were considered allowable for Senate confirmation; Miers and Gonzales. When Bush met with Senators, he was reportedly told that these two names were the only ones that stood a chance to be confirmed, but Gonzales would face pointed questions about Abu Gharab, Gitmo, and the administration’s policy on torture. It would have been ugly, but he would have been confirmed against the added damage done by dejected a dejected conservative base, and liberal attacks on the President’s agenda. There would have also had to be a new search for an Attorney General, which would have been just as ugly.
Had Bush put up selections that would have been defeated, the chorus of ‘Lame Duck’ chanting coming out of Washington would have drowned out the President’s agenda. A defeat in the Senate would have also signaled to Congress that they were on their own, and no longer had to back up, support, or even listen to President Bush. They would have been free to play the political-calculation game that the Democrats have been playing for 6 years; avoiding tough votes that would be used against them in a future campaign.
So, what’s the bottom line?
The bottom line is that Bush did his best to give us what we want, in a way that will not hurt the prospects of the Conservative agenda. The primary thing that must be considered, is that the Congress can NEVER be put back in Democrat hands, for that would destroy all progress made up to now. Our day will come, but this aint it. If we had a Republican Senate made up of real patriots without the odd liberal in Republican clothing, things would be a lot better.
In Miers, Bush has clearly taken what he can get, and our best hope now is for another vacancy on the court before this administration’s term is up. The current makeup of the Congress will just not allow our agenda to be passed at this time without major sacrifices and pragmatic thinking to overcome the inherit weakness of having traitors in our midst.
It appears to me that Harriet Miers is the best CONFIRMABLE candidate for the Supreme Court at this time. This fact is not the fault of the President. Indeed it is OUR fault. It is us who have supported less than the best candidates for the Senate. We are responsible for Chaffee, Snowe, McCain, Graham, Lott, Frist and other persons of questionable courage. We should not be blaming Bush for our own votes. We selected the people that the President must rely upon to move his agenda forward. If they are losers, then he loses too.
Though they literally suck, we are stuck with these people because we must keep the majority to keep our agenda alive. There have been worse moments for us, but none would be worse than than the day we lose the Senate our House majorities. I now believe that although Bush disapointed many of us, that he did the very best he could do without destroying our momentum.
Yes, like Rush Limbaugh said, it was a choice made from weakness.
But the thing to remember, is that it was not Bush’s weakness, but our own, and that of the people we have elected to Congress that made this happen. Had they been strong, Bush could have selected anyone we wanted.
Because of what I now know about how and why Harriet Miers was selected, I withdraw my earlier statements against her, my statements suggesting anything less than my strong support of the President, and finally, my self imposed exile from Free Republic.
Pukin Dog is back, so deal with it.
>>>Oh wait, that's infantile. Not posting an opus 3 days ago, not leaving, and then announcing in news / activism that you're back.
Infantile is persisting in this incessant whine. Enough already.
This poster has a long history of instgating pissing matches. It's what it wants.
Who can say how long Harriet Miers will live? Pope Leo XIII was 68 when he was elected, and he reigned 25 years (1878-1903). Harriet's mother is alive at 93; her father died at the age of 68. If you take the average of those ages, she should make it to at least 80. Bush thinks she'll be around for another 20 years...maybe she made a personal promise to him.
You're wrong. Pot smoking was not the universal norm of the era and was not any sort of badge of respectability -- and I will have to point out that those who refrained would take solid offense at your suggestion that their choice makes them ill-qualified for adult life today in a leadership role.
FYI, back in the day Air Force officer candidates were explicitly asked this question and if the answer was yes, they were shown the door. I suppose military officers charged with the safekeeping and use of nuclear weapons in some way don't qualify for your worldview of today's leadership, but fortunately you are in charge of pretty much nothing.
Okay, I'll tone down the close here. I type thoughtless stuff now and then too in a fit of humor, but guy, you are way, way out of line on this.
For your consideration, comments welcome.
Unbelievably twisted way of turning this around. I said you could have made your point in your first post. It's nothing to do with "audacity" it's all to do with beating a dead horse.
I'm done with this.
I am not a secret source in DC but I have been saying this from day 1.
It is the only logical explanation.
Luttig, Brown & co. are wonderful in the abstract. but that matters little if they could not be confirmed.
I stand by my original comment that none of the others could get 51 votes even if by some miracle, they got out of Committee.
With the squishy Republican Senate and an ineffective and super squishy Frist, the Dems would have won big time.
"Harriet Miers stands as the only nominee on Bush’s list which has any chance of confirmation by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The reasons for this are numerous, and would be embarrassing to the Conservative movement should one or many of the ‘stars’ who we hoped Bush would select be shot down in Committee, which again, if true, would be a certainty. "
"Luttig, McConnell, JRB, Owen, Alito, or anyone else you want to name, would have been defeated, and probably defeated in committee, in order to save other Senators from having to vote them down on the floor. Of this, I am now convinced. Only two names were considered allowable for Senate confirmation; Miers and Gonzales."
Well...that is stretching it.
I think if you said out whine, scream and cry hysterically to a willing media, I would agree with you.
The President has the right stuff but sadly there are Senate Republicans who do not. You have named some of them. There are more.
He would not have gotten the conservatives with the judicial record confirmed. Roberts was fortunate enough to not have a record since he was not confirmed when Bush senior nominated him. That was fortuitous.
This is the result...it could have been far worse.
Geez. Some people must be really bored.
awww.
Yes, daring to question another poster or what the administration is 'starting a pissing match'.
I guess discussion boards are only for when you want to agree with someone.
This post makes a lot of sense, and most of the information provided in it is very logical and likely true.
Man, what a frustrating situation.
As someone from Pennsylvania, I still have a bitter taste in my mouth because of Spector's re-election in 2004.
Things like this are the reason I would never survive in politics. It would be too tempting to rat out all the wimps, and thus lose support from the party bosses.
His disloyalty NOW makes him suspect. However, he was quite conciliatory during the 2004 elections.
We need to replace current Democrat and RINO Senators with real conservatives.
Specter has built his whole career on lies. What else could you expect from him?
I assume he promised Rove that he would help Bush take Ohio in return for their crucial support in the primary, but after he was nominated he had campaign literature printed up urging his constituents to vote for Kerry/Specter.
It was obvious even to a political amateur like me that it would have been far easier to deny him the chair of the Judicial Committee from the start than it would be to get him out of it, once he was in, and that has certainly proven to be the case.
I'm not blaming any of this on you, as your temperate reply to my earlier post suggests you recognize. It's just a very sad business. It's also sad that many Freepers responding to your admirable post seem to take it as a vindication of Miers. Far from it. It suggests that she is a Gonzalez clone who was OKed by the Democrat leadership. The only hope I see there is that she does not appear to be anything like as weak as Gonzalez, from what little we know of her.
So, perhaps given Bush's weakness on the arm-twisting front--or, rather, his tendency to twist the arms of his political allies rather than those of his enemies--Miers is now indeed the best we can hope for.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.