Bush Takes A Mulligan
Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination to the SCOTUS.
I wish this was disappointing news. It isn't.
Don't get me wrong. I don't think Miers deserved to have to go through this. On the other hand, I don't think she deserved to be put in the position to be the lightning rod. I think the nomination let us all down. I hope President Bush shows more domestic resolve this time around.
Many will say that this unnecessarily hurt Bush's presidency. I agree that it hurt his presidency. I disagree that it was unnecessary. Prior speeches given by Miers released yesterday may have been the coffin nails. They showed a person who would charicaturize pro-lifers, believed in quotas and thought judicial activism was an apporpriate response to "lazy legislatures." This was not the speech of a judicial conservative.
President Bush's people did not do the necessary background check. Besides, when a fight is necessary, wouldn't it make more sense to pick the fight with your enemies rather than your friends?
President Bush is not a person who should ask for trust. Not on domestic issues. Not on judicial nominees. Not given his Surpeme Court litigation record.
I supported Bush's reelection, but only because of the WOT. I want a relatively known comodity with this pick. President Clinton gave the country known comodities. Did anyone ever doubt Ginsberg's and Breyer's judicial leanings? Of course not. President Bush should to the same. It was, after all, a focus of his reelection campaign.
You got your "do over" President Bush.
Whacha gonna do with it?
Some advice I'm sure Presdient Bush doesn't want: Pick someone who has dealt with constitutional issues as either a lawyer, a judge, or both. Pick someone who is already known for his or her conservative judicial philosophy. Pick someone who is younger than 60. Pick someone who is extremely capable of teaching while speaking.
And for goodness sakes, be a conservative and pick someone without regard to race, gender or nationality. If reports are true that some of the first choices (presumably women) turned down the job, then pick the best man. Don't pick a woman for the sake of picking a woman. That was how we got Janet Reno -- Clinton's third pick for AG (all women, because he wanted to make history, I mean herstory.)
posted by KJ @ 9:44 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I blame Morgan Ensberg for this whole mess with Miers.
I blame Gilligan.
Well, fair enough Cass.
I think she has had a glorious legal career. We should all be so lucky to be as "unaccomplished" as she is.
I also think any lawyer would find it difficult to say no to that job, so I don't fault her unless she actually pushed herself to Bush for the job.
I assumed, with no knowledge either way, that she did not. This seems to be Bush's thing -- hiring someone to do a search, then offering the position to the searcher.
I'm not sure of her role in all this, though she would be in the best position to know about her own speeches and positions. Of course, she might have hoped some things would be undiscovered. Who wouldn't want that job.
If you would prefer that I "pile on" Miers, I could do that. I don't see the point. She still has a job to do, and I hope she does it well. My problem on this has always been with Bush, and if Miers is in fact responsible for putting Bush in this position, then I'll blame her too when I know that. But certainly someone else did the vetting for Miers, and not Miers herself.
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We should all be so lucky to be as "unaccomplished" as she is. . Heh:)
I'm sorry, no matter how honorable or principled you are, you can't vet yourself. Miers was recommended by Andy Card, and was vetted by William K. Kelley, the deputy White House counsel who had been appointed to his post a month before. Card and Kelley and two weeks of background checks--behind Miers back--does not a "vet" make.
As John Fund wrote in "How She Slipped Through": "Regardless of whether or not the vetting process was complete, it presented impossible conflicts of interest. Consider the position that Mr. Bush and Mr. Card put Mr. Kelley in. He would be a leading candidate to become White House counsel if Ms. Miers was promoted. He had an interest in not going against his earlier recommendation of her for the Supreme Court, or in angering President Bush, Ms. Miers's close friend."
I never said Bush didn't vet her properly. That was clearly a subordinate's task. I do think Bush made the political decision to go with her, which was my complaint the whole time. I also don't think it is fair to be too hard to an accomplished attorney who has a president asking you to be a SCOTUS justice b/c the justice didn't say - "oh no, I'm just not worthy." I don't care what her "job" is. She may be a Christian, but she isn't Jesus Christ.
Well, Cass, there are political adviser and lawyers. They aren't always the same person. I'll bet her political radar may not be as attuned as Roberts was when he worked for Reagan. She may have been there for the legal advice, not the political advice.
But it is all speculation. I am sure she saw herself, probably rightly so, as capable of doing the job. She wasn't capable of the political battle.
I mean, our Veep had the same situation.
Your criticism has merit. I don't see it so critically. I guess I'm just the softie.
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