Posted on 10/10/2005 5:30:35 AM PDT by gobucks
The Republican base across the country looks more favorably on President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court than the cluster of conservative critics who are opposing her inside the Beltway, according to a Washington Times survey of state party chairmen.
snip
Eileen Melvin, chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, said she had just come from a meeting with state committee members in conservative Lancaster County, where she asked them what they thought of the Miers nomination. "They said we trust the president," she said.
snip
In Washington state, party Chairman Chris Vance said he e-mailed information about Miss Miers, provided by the Republican National Committee, to a statewide list of 10,000 Republican officials and grass-roots activists. "The next day, I got less than 10 e-mails out of 10,000 from people who were upset with the nomination," Mr. Vance said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
"The Republican base across the country looks more favorably on President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court than the cluster of conservative critics who are opposing her inside the Beltway, according to a Washington Times survey of state party chairmen."
Nonsense. To a person everyone I know has said one thing of this nomination: Wasted Opportunity.
No spin intended. If you have a direct quote I'm willing to hear it but I know what I read that was attibuted to him as a direct quote. It was not an endorsement of Miers.
Oh great, maybe instead of some of these idiots looking to foregin law we will now have someone looking to the Bible to interpret coyright law and criminal law.
It's entirely possible that members of FR are not representative of average Republicans. They may be more conservative.
The larger factor likely is that many people who oppose the nomination didn't bother sending an email in reply stating that fact. You can't equate a failure to object with support. But, the low response rate does suggest that there isn't a large number truly outraged.
Well, there's a solid 'no' vote /sarcasm.
I find the tactic of attacking anyone who merely questions this nomination outrageous. The defenders are in extreme denial if they don't think there are numerous real conservatives who question this nomination. I have been called every name in the book by the defenders and I am on the fense. The tactice of the defenders are driving me away from supporting her.
Yes, he was. He was defending nominees with no court experience...meaning Miers. Your prejudice blinds you...
FReepers may be more conservative than the average Republican, but not 2770 times as conservative. The gap is far to wide to be explained like that. Maybe as a whole we're 50% more conservative than the average Republican.
The WH better start coming up with less transparent nonsense in support of this candidate than this. It is reminding of the spin-meisters under Schlickmeister. When the company president sends out an email to the shop foremen asking for support on his decision to have pink ornaments on the Christmas tree, silence cannot be taken as an endorsement for the color pink. While the foremen ar silent, the workers are putting up pictures of the company president in pink tights. Common already.
My first reaction was to ask questions... the response to those reasonable questions (Who is she, what does she believe, what about the conflicts of interest, why Miers rather than other candidates) has been about what I'd expect if I'd suggested using aborted babies as a fuel source to replace oil.
What part of the Constitution or the Bible explains Harriet's support for Affirmative Action? Harriet is a compomiser from all indications. A fair accessment of Harriet would probably be something along the line of a pro-life O'Connor. I hope she is better, but that is how I see it from the small pieces of info we have.
Me neither.
"They said we trust the president" = "Uh... What he said"
He was merely being diplomatic. He may have to work with this woman for the rest of his life, why would he poison the well?
I believe they and the Senators know that once she hits the confirmation seat, it's a done deal...
There won't be any tough questions by the Dems, because they want her...The Republicans will be threatened with witholding Federal funds for their States, being black-balled from the RNC, politics as usual...And the liberal Republicans will vote for her no matter how liberal she is...
If they don't get her out before the hearings, it's too late...
"But headed out the door to where? Oblivion?"
No.
There are three possible destinations:
(1) Headed home. Politics having become so mired in cronyism that key issues aren't addressed by either party, getting one's panties in a bunch over things political is a waste of time. Devote that time formerly devoted to politics to family and business pursuits. Pro-lifers in particular are likely to go home and drop out of politics if they become too disappointed with it. Most of them are family-and-church oriented, not rich enough for the tax breaks to make much difference, and only became interested in politics because of the pro-life issue. For them, the Supreme Court is the Holy Grail issue. Lose them, and they are simply lost to the political process. They don't switch parties. They just go home and don't come back. And their support is completely irreplaceable.
(2) Headed over to a protest candidate.
Ross Perot deprived Bush 41 and the Republicans of office, by giving angry and frustrated people on the right somebody to vote for. A vote for Perot and Admiral Stockdale was not necessarily a vote FOR Perot (at a certain point it became clear that the man wasn't quite "right"), but it was a jab in the eye of the GOP. A devastating one, in fact.
The nightmare candidate for the GOP in 2008 would be a retired US Army or Marine Corps general with solid wartime credentials who stands up and campaigns on third party national security: closed borders at home, and properly fighting the war in Iraq. Lots of people would vote for him: veterans, anti-immgration folks, and folks who walked out the door this time. Particularly in the Midwest, populist third party candidates build up a great mass like a summer squall line, because the Midwest is the least represented region by any electorate. The last election was decided in the Midwest, and the next one will be too, because every other region is sewn up by one party or the other.
(3) Headed into a Republican tent across the street to plan a coup. About a third of the party, roughly, including all of the most eloquent speakers, is incensed. They've built the party. They think that Bush is giving this pivotal seat to his crony. Bush is gone in 3 years. Right now, his loyalists dominate the party. But they don't control the microphones. The Limbaugh-Hannity-Coulter-Ingraham- Will wing of the party, the unhappy 1/3rd, control the microphone. Federalist society folks are pissed off right now too. They are a feeder for the Republican intelligentsia who AREN'T in charge right now.
The Bush loyalists, by trying to stiff-arm and tamp down the opposition in the Republican ranks here, are likely to create a civil war within the party, when the folks who head out the door for the moment, meet in a tent across the street and plot their return.
The better thing for Bush to do would be to withdraw this nomination and avoid this fight.
Some of the folks who head out the door will head out the door to political oblivion, and that will hurt the party net-net.
Others will head out the door for a Ross Perot type in the next Presidential election, if one presents himself. That will deliver a blow to the solar plexus.
And the third group will camp out across the street, and will not concede control of the Republican Party to the Bush loyalists, and start a long, nasty civil war within Republican ranks, which they will probably win, because the Bush's will be gone, and they've got no likely successor they can groom.
Thanks for the clarity, I will trust Scalia to defend our Constitution.
btw: your not upset at him for not siding with the rope smokers, are you?
I only ask, "Why Miers when there are so many QUALIFIED candidates out there?"
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