Posted on 10/12/2005 3:30:33 AM PDT by ejdrapes
OCT. 11, 2005: A SINKING NOMINATION There has not been a moment since October 3 when I have not felt sick and sad about this Miers battle, but today may have been the worst day yet. This morning, the president mobilized Laura Bush to join him on national television and accuse critics of the Miers nomination of "sexism." Reading the transcript of the interview, you can feel this kind and gracious woman's disinclination to speak an untruth. "It's possible," she says. "I think it's possible." What a terrible and false position to put the first lady in! And what a sign that the White House has finally understood that it has lost the argument over this nomination. By asking the first lady to defend the nomination, the White House is implicitly admitting that the president's word alone has failed to carry the day: That, in other words, when he said, "Trust me," conservatives said "No." The first lady's appearance was a dangerous confession of personal and political weakness by the president - one that will be noticed and exploited by the president's Democratic opponents. Even more ominously, the Today show interview announces a new strategy of trying to win the Miers nomination by waging war on the president's core supporters. In the first week of the battle, the White House sent out James Dobson to woo evangelical conservatives. That didn't work out too well. So now the White House has switched strategies. It has turned its back on conservative evangelicals and is instead using Laura Bush to woo suburban moderates. But remember: Laura Bush is on record as a supporter - not just of abortion rights - but of the Roe v. Wade decision. Interviewed on the Today program in January 2001, Mrs. Bush was asked point blank about the case. Her answer: "No, I don't think it should be overturned." Is it credible that Mrs. Bush would be endorsing Harriet Miers if the first lady thought that Miers would really do what James Dobson thinks she'll do? It is madness for a 37% president to declare war on his strongest supporters, but that is exactly the strategy that this unwise nomination has forced upon President Bush. And every day that passes, he will get angrier, the attacks will get fiercer - and his political position will weaken. That is why it is wrong and dangerous for Republicans to say, "Let's wait for the hearings." Even if the hearings start in the next couple of weeks, as the White House now says it wishes, the Miers matter will extend itself at least into November. That's a month and more of the president's team accusing the president's supporters of sexism, elitism, and who knows what else; a month of rising tension between this president and the conservatives who elected him; a month in which the president's poll numbers will drop even further. The longer it continues, the costlier this battle will prove for the president. And if forced to its ultimate conclusion, the odds are rising that this is a battle that will end in ultimate defeat for Miers and for Bush. Under these circumstancs, the least bad solution is for the president to withdraw this nomination now, before he does himself further and growing harm. Many readers have asked what they can do to help achieve a good resolution of this crisis. Here are a few suggestions. First, please send an email to Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingraham thanking them for their brave stance against this nomination. These two broadcasters have been tireless and fearless on this story - but they are under intense and increasing pressure, and it makes a huge difference to them to know that their work is heard and supported. (And let me add: It has made a huge difference to me as well.) Next, communicate with the Republican Senators on the Judiciary committee. Lindsey Graham has already committed himself to the nominee, but the others have not - and Brownback in particular seems to be leaning negative. It will again make a huge difference to these senators to know that conservatives across America will support them if they stand up to White House pleasure. Finally, some friends and I have drafted a petition to the president that we will shortly be putting on a webpage for all who wish to sign. Here's the draft text: "WE ARE REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVES who supported the election of George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. Today, we respectfully urge that the nomination of Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme Court be withdrawn. "The next justice of the Supreme Court should be a person of clear, consistent, and unashamed conservative philosophy. "The next justice should be seen by all as an independent custodian of the constitution, untainted by any hint of secret pledges or political obligations. "The next justice should be a person of the highest standard of intellectual and juridical excellence. "For all Harriet Miers' many fine qualities and genuine achievements, we the undersigned believe that she is not that person. An attempt to push her nomination through the Senate will only split the Republican party, damage the Bush presidency, and cast doubts upon the Court itself. "Sometimes Americans elect Republican presidents, sometimes we elect Democratic presidents. Whatever the differences between the parties, surely we can at least agree on this: Each party owes America its best. President Bush has a wide range of truly outstanding conservative jurists from which to choose. We believe that on second thought he can do better - for the Supreme Court, for conservatism, for America." Comments on this draft text are welcome, but PLEASE do not yet send signatures. When the site is ready to take and forward your message to the White House, I'll post a note and link here at NRO. Don't worry, we'll act fast.
What was Miers' position on that landmark ruling?
Man, this guy is an optimistic vote counter. I'm sorry, but I still think we missed our chance before and I don't see those kind of RINO defections toward the constitutional option. Plus you've got a weaknened president ... not by this so much, although it's not helping ... and a severely weakened Senate Majority Leader. I simply do not see it happening. The circumstances on Oct. 12, 2005 are simply not the same as they were before.
You'r right....this nomination is a disaster. This nomination has to be withdrawn ASAP and be replaced with somebody with a known conservative judicial philosophy.
I think you're being overly generous in your estimate. I would bet that many (most?) who subscribe to the Weekly Standard also subscribe to National Review.
We will get to hear her judicial philosphy in her own words. I think everyone felt more confident in Roberts after hearing his ideas on how the court should work, and his explanation of how he felt the Constitution should be the deciding factor, not whether it was the little guy or the big guy.
I intend to watch those hearings intently. If she is not a good candidate, it will be shown.
I've had subscriptions to National Review and The American Spectator-before that turncoat RET sold it to that oddball techno-wizard/business tycoon turned bankrupt white collar criminal George Gilder-but have never subscribed to The Weekly Standard.
Although, I do read it on occasion.
Or maybe Maureen Mahoney or even Consuelo Callahan, who was supposedly the runner-up to Miers. I had put my money on Callahan ... am on record with it here ... before the president picked Miers, because she was a woman and Hispanic and the president has expressed a desire to have a Hispanic justice and I figured he'd take care of two birds with one rock. Novak called Callahan a liberal in his column the other day, but I simply don't see it in her record. Although I agree with you, if this has to be a female seat ... and I don't like quotas, but it really doesn't bother me if this needs to be a female seat, there's something to be said for Ginsburg not being the only female face on the court ... and they're not going to send up Brown or Owen, Clement is probably the best choice.
Boy, if they thought Janice-Rogers Brown was controversial...
That to me, is the major concern...Maybe I misunderstand the process but it seems to me that if H Miers comes out in the hearings as way too liberal for many of the Republicans, the liberal Repubs as well as all the Dems will vote her into the court...The liberals have the majority...
Second, Gonzales is, apparently not a strict constructionist and Bush didn't name him for the courts.
I am not happy with the Miers pick but will give Bush the benefit of the doubt. The hearings will be determinative; give the woman a chance.
Frum should shut up.
I didn't care for TAS when Gilder had it either. But he's out now, and it's more like it used to be.
All this stuff about Miers ... I wish the president had picked somebody else but he didn't. And I've been sitting here torn between being as PO'd as everybody else is, and understanding the political realities of Washington. Not the political realities out in the heartland where the base is, but the political realities of Washington. They're two different things. I've always said that Washington would be improved greatly if somebody got the world's largest enema nozzle and inserted it with Capitol Hill primarily as ground zero, and hooked it up to the world's largest suction truck, and in most cases I wouldn't differentiate between parties as far as who got caught in the suction.
Anyway, even if I don't like it, I understand why, given the political realities in Washington, that the president didn't nominate somebody like Janice Brown, his political capital is going to be declining with every day of his second term and it's understandable that he wants to pick his spots as far as where to use it. I just think he badly misjudged how much fixing the SCOTUS means to the base, how much of a motivation that has been for the past two generations to the conservative movement.
:0)
Clarence Thomas got his Supreme Court appointment after a brutal, ugly, vicious, nasty, down-in-the-gutter, "high-tech" lynching fight. But remember we won. We won because we fought tooth and nail. And guess what, we have a reliable conservative vote on the Supreme Court until Thomas breathes his last breath of air above ground.
I think Janice Rogers Brown could get appointed under such a scenario and achieve an overwhelming 51-49 approval vote in the Senate. She would be so steeled by this process she would vote conservative until she was 110 years old.
"I'm really tired of hearing this. If there's one thing everyone should've learned about Bush by now, it's that he NEVER withdraws."
And the michael brown resignation was all michael brown's idea, right?
There are resignations, and then there are resignations.
As I said, I am waiting for the hearings, although my inclination is to trust the President.
>>>Anyway, I hate to see conservatives whine. Leave that to the DU crowd.<<<
I will add that to the list. Now conservatives are elitist, sexist, mentally challenged, cry-baby whiners.
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