Posted on 10/12/2005 4:16:22 PM PDT by goldstategop
A Supreme Court nomination may not have been the ideal time for Laura Bush to start acting like "Buy One, Get One Free" Hillary Clinton. At least President Clinton only allowed his wife to choose the attorney general. (Remember the good old days when first ladies only got to pick the poet laureate and the White House china pattern?)
Between cooking segments on the "Today" show this week, Laura rolled out the straw man – sorry, "straw person" – argument that the criticism of Miers was rooted in "sexism" (which is such a chick thing to say).
I'm a gyno-American, and I strenuously object.
The only sexism involved in the Miers nomination is the administration's claim that once they decided they wanted a woman, Miers was the best they could do. Let me just say, if the top male lawyer in the country is John Roberts and the top female lawyer is Harriet Miers, we may as well stop allowing girls to go to law school.
Ah, but perhaps you were unaware of Miers' many other accomplishments. Apparently she was THE FIRST WOMAN in Dallas to have a swimming pool in her back yard! And she was THE FIRST WOMAN with a safety deposit box at the Dallas National Bank! And she was THE FIRST WOMAN to wear pants at her law firm! It's simply amazing! And did you know she did all this while being a woman?
I don't know when Republicans became the party that condescends to women, but I am not at all happy about this development. This isn't the year 1880. And by the way, even in 1880, Miers would not have been the "most qualified" of all women lawyers in the U.S., of which there were 75.
By 1950, there were more than 6,000 women lawyers, three female partners at major law firms and three female federal judges. She may be a nut who belonged to a subversive organization, but Ruth Bader Ginsburg graduated first in her class from Columbia Law School – and that was before Harriet Miers was applying to law school.
Women have been graduating at the top of their classes at the best law schools for 50 years. Today, women make up about 45 percent of the students at the nation's top law schools (and more than 50 percent at all law schools).
Which brings us to the other enraging argument being made by the Bush administration and its few remaining defenders – the claim of "elitism." I also don't know when the Republican Party stopped being the party of merit and excellence and became the party of quotas and lying about test scores, but I don't like that development, either.
The average LSAT score at SMU Law School is 155. The average LSAT at Harvard is 170. That's a difference of approximately 1 1/2 standard deviations, a differential IQ experts routinely refer to as "big-ass" or "humongous." Whatever else you think of them, the average Harvard Law School student is very smart. I gather I have just committed a hate crime by saying so.
Contrary to the Bush administration's disingenuous arguments, it's not simply that Miers did not attend a top law school that makes her unqualified for the Supreme Court. (But that's a good start!) It's that she did not go on to rack up any major accomplishments since then, either.
Despite the astonishing fact that Miers was THE FIRST WOMAN to head the Texas Bar Association – a dumping ground for losers, by the way – Miers has not had the sort of legal career that shouts out "Supreme Court material"! That is, unless you think any female who manages to pass the bar exam has achieved a feat of unparalleled brilliance for her gender.
There are more important things in life than being Supreme Court material, but – oddly enough – not when we're talking about an appointment to the Supreme Court. According to the Associated Press, Sen. Arlen Specter defended Miers on the grounds that "Miers' professional qualifications are excellent, but she lacks experience in constitutional law" – and Specter ought to know. This is like recommending a plumber by saying, "He's a very professional guy, but he lacks experience in plumbing."
The other straw-man argument constantly being hawked by the Bush administration is that Miers' critics object that she's never been a judge. To quote another Bush – Read my lips: No one has said that. So please stop comparing Miers to Justice Byron White (first in his class at Yale Law School) or Justice William Rehnquist (first in his class at Stanford Law School).
It's also not what the New York Times claims, which is that conservatives oppose Miers because they don't know how she will vote. We didn't know how Roberts would vote! As I recall, I was the only conservative complaining about that.
The problem with Miers is something entirely different – and entirely within the meaning of "advice and consent": Miers is no more qualified to sit on the Supreme Court than I am to be a sumo wrestler. The hearings aren't going to change that; they will just make it more obvious.
I genuinely feel sorry for Miers. I'm sure she's a lovely woman, brighter than average, and well-qualified for many important jobs. Just not the job Bush has nominated her for. The terrible thing Bush has done to Miers is to force people who care about the court to say that.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Don't you know the rules about posting stuff from Ann?
I love ya Ann. But I think it's 11th commandment time.
No, but you continue to prove your elitist tendencies. Coulter just won't get off this "SMU is for dummies" thing of hers.
I genuinely feel sorry for Miers. I'm sure she's a lovely woman, brighter than average, and well-qualified for many important jobs. Just not the job Bush has nominated her for. The terrible thing Bush has done to Miers is to force people who care about the court to say that.
Coulter continues to sink into bimboism, by acting like she owns the Supreme Court and that only when someone passes HER tests, do they deserve to be on the court.
Ann is burning her bridges, for sure. Her next book likely won't sell quite as many copies as the last one did.
Did Laura "roll it" out or did the interviewer give her a loaded question and she was lady like enough not to say, you are an idiot but rather well maybe
>>>...if the top male lawyer in the country is John Roberts and the top female lawyer is Harriet Miers, we may as well stop allowing girls to go to law school.<<<
LOL! Go, Ann!
That's contempt, not sorrow.
Didn't you know that SMU is 1 and 1/2 deviations below Harvard?
Ann's snobbery reveals a mean streak that likely explains why she sleeps alone at night.
Harriet Miers, the "handicap" of her SMU education aside, is a veteran lawyer, law firm exec, bar association officer and senior White House staffer. Did Ann even make partner?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I was going to watch, but I get ill watching/listening to Butthead.
Them facts is stubborn things!
Ann: Is it that time of the month, again?
She was on Fox today and looked bad. She looked shopworn, too much makeup, way too much eye makeup.
She jumped the shark.
I've never liked Coulter, but I thought she was at least a decent human being.
With her jihad against these two nominees, and by extension against Bush, she's revealed herself to be every bit the bi*ch that her worst enemies say she is.
Is she still chain smoking?
Ann Coulter has literally lost her mind. In her haste to diminish Miers' accomplishments and qualifications, she neglects to mention that a subversive b!tch and avowed Communist like Ruth Bader Ginsburg would be considered an exceptional Supreme Court nominee under the standards that Coulter has set for Miers.
It's times like this I really miss the beautiful, brilliant, diplomatic Barbara Olsen. She could write and persuade and debate and even charm people to her way of thinking without the caustic in-your-face approach Ann has.
And please guys...No requests this time around for all of us who dare disagree with her to post 8x10 photos to prove we aren't jealous of your icon!
Maybe, but how do you know?
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