Conservatives Battle Miers Nomination

Posted at 9:18 am on Monday, October 10, 2005, in Uncategorized, and tagged bush.

Let me get this straight (as I have been out-of-town the last few days; in Philadelphia, if that relaxes your appetite): conservatives are up-in-arms over Bush’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, because she is not conservative enough. The democrats have been complaining of cronyism, and the outward-speaking republicans have been doing the same (masking their actual complaint that Miers is not ultra-conservative), but the democrats are in a bind, and in fact, may have to rely on the conservatives to help them (if they relly want that).

Senator Harry Reid, minority leader, had informed Bush in the run-up to the Miers nod that Harriet Miers was “acceptable.” So now what can the democrats do? Say that Reid didn’t “speak” for them, despite that minority leader thing, and fight the nomination? Or jump on the coat-tails of the hard-right conservatives as they battle Miers over Roe v. Wade? And do they want Miers to be defeated, or will she become a moderate, a la Sandra Day O’Connor? Very tough questions for the democrats to answer.

No one is sure of Harriet Miers’ philosophy (she may not even have one), but we do know that Miers’ nomination stinks of cronyism, and that most informed Americans agree with that perception. Should the democrats roll the dice with Miers, as they did with well-qualified John Roberts, or should they reverse their position, join the conservatives and campaign against Miers? If successful, will Bush nominate a well-qualified moderate? No. If unsuccessfull, which is highly likely, will the dems look weak and indecisive? The democrats should sit back and let the GOP attack their own president’s choice, allow the media to air the ruckus, and see who’s standing in time for the hearings.

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