With Friends Like These . . .
How can you know something about whether Harriet Miers is the best pick for the Supreme Court? Look at what her friends have to say about her:
Here is Dan Coats, who has been selected to shepherd her nomination through the Senate:
“If great intellectual powerhouse is a qualification to be a member of the court and represent the American people and the wishes of the American people and to interpret the Constitution, then I think we have a court so skewed on the intellectual side that we may not be getting representation of America as a whole,” Mr. Coats said in a CNN interview.
The clear implication is that she’s no great intellectual powerhouse. I didn’t say it. Dan Coats did.
Arlen Specter, who will almost certainly vote for Miers, said after meeting with Miers that she “needs a crash course in constitutional law.” (Clam mentioned this earlier.) Specter and other Republicans said that they don’t want to ask her too many complicated constitutional law questions yet, because she hasn’t had a chance to think about them:
Several Republicans, including Mr. Specter, said they steered clear of asking Ms. Miers questions about constitutional law. Mr. Specter, who said the timing of the confirmation hearings would depend in part on when Ms. Miers feels ready, said he initiated a discussion of the shifting standards the Supreme Court has applied in interpreting the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, but only to illustrate to Ms. Miers the kinds of questions she would face during her hearings.
“I did not ask her about it because I don’t think she’s ready to face it at the moment,” he said. “Look, the lady was White House counsel dealing with totally other subjects until Sunday night when the president offered her the job. And Monday she’s sitting with me. I’m not going to ask her questions which she hasn’t had a chance to study or reflect on.”
We’re going to leave the resolution of the great constitutional questions of our time to someone who hasn’t had a chance to study or reflect on those issues? Someone who needs a “crash course” in constitutional law??
Incidentally, the same article says:
[Republican allies of the White House] said the White House was working to assemble a dossier that would back up its case about Ms. Miers’s record of accomplishment, her legal qualifications and her conservative credentials.
Hmm. I guess that dossier doesn’t exist yet. That’s because Bush didn’t make this decision based upon any collected record of her legal qualifications and her conservative credentials. He made it based on his gut. And his gut has been wrong before — many times.
I think it’s interesting that even Bush has called her “plenty smart” — which seems like a rather lukewarm assessment of her intellectual abilities. David Frum says Miers “once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met.” (A little scary, that.) Couldn’t Bush muster up some similar praise in response?
One of her biggest defenders in the blogosphere, Hugh Hewitt, calls her a “solid B+ pick.”
I have yet to hear any conservative in the United States, except Bush and his close advisors, claim that she is the best pick. Not Hewitt. Not Beldar. Nobody.
But plenty of her defenders seem willing to say that, hey, she’s not all that bad.
Good enough for me!
Not the best but THE pick.
When will the LEFT turn on her?
Flap (cc77c4) — 10/8/2005 @ 2:50 pmMy guess is when she decides to try and quiet the right down by saying that she thinks that abortion is unconstitutional.
Angry Clam (a7c6b1) — 10/8/2005 @ 3:01 pmNahhhh she will just wink at James Dobson at her confirmation hearing and Slow Joe Biden will notice.
Flap (cc77c4) — 10/8/2005 @ 3:10 pmA Sign of Strength
The way out of this is not to wring our hands and worry if the neighbors will hear us fighting. The way out is to be the party we say we are.
Peace Like A River (59ce3a) — 10/8/2005 @ 4:12 pmBeldar Puffs Miers’ Resume
My friends Don Surber and Beth Cleaver encouraged us to read Beldar’s defense of Miers. Since I am concerned about her qualifications, rather than “Is she conservative enough?” I focused on Beldar’s Is Miers one in a million? A…
The Politburo Diktat (4aa448) — 10/8/2005 @ 9:37 pmI agree.
http://acepilots.com/mt/2005/10/09/beldar-puffs-miers-resume/
http://acepilots.com/mt/2005/10/07/the-anti-miers-snowball/
Trackbacks don’t seem to be taking.
The Commissar (a599b7) — 10/8/2005 @ 9:39 pmSome of these comments are rather worrisome, but Specter’s doesn’t bother me in the least. Maybe her constitutional knowledge is lacking indeed, or maybe she just doesn’t believe in superprecedents. Given the source, we just don’t know.
Xrlq (428dfd) — 10/8/2005 @ 10:03 pmI do not like your unfounded criticism of President Bush. You write that “his gut has been wrong before — many times.”
I cannot think of a single time when our President has reached a wrong conclusion when faced with an important decision. Not one single time.
Your derogatory comments (along with those of the many others who are criticizing the President) are not appropriate–nor are they appreciated. Especially at this time of all-out war when he is facing many great challenges.
His leadership in every respect (including judicial appointments) has been superb. He is without a doubt the greatest President we have seen in the modern era, and possibly in the history of our nation. I am thankful for every day that we have him as our leader. I only wish that there wasn’t a two-term limit on his office.
I am glad to hear him say that he will not back down on the Meirs nomination. That shows you how strong and focused a man he is. He is the President and it is his right to nominate whomever he sees fit. If you do not like his nominee, your choice is simple: become President and then nominate someone you like.
I fully expect Ms. Miers to receive a fair and balanced hearing from the Judiciary Committee. And then proceed to an up-or-down vote from the full Senate–which she fully deserves.
The President has asked us to trust him, and we should. If you don’t wish to trust him, then perhaps you should find another country whose leader you do trust.
Lisa Lynns (1320d7) — 10/9/2005 @ 4:16 am“I cannot think of a single time when our President has reached a wrong conclusion when faced with an important decision. Not one single time.”
You’re insane. How about signing Campaign Finance Reform, his immigration plan, Michael Brown, Julie Meyers, Kerik (as Pattrico notes above… I’d forgotten about him), being good pals with Putin and Fox, selling out education reform to Ted Kennedy with No Child Left Behind, etc.
The president is terrible at making judgments of the character of others.
Angry Clam (a7c6b1) — 10/9/2005 @ 5:59 amClam is right. And he left out a few things.
If you do not like his nominee, your choice is simple: become President and then nominate someone you like.
My choice could also be to speak out, and thereby help to put political pressure on him and on Senators.
Patterico (4e4b70) — 10/9/2005 @ 7:53 amBut it sure helps for people to suggest that I leave the country if I don’t love every decision our Dear Leader makes . . .
Patterico (4e4b70) — 10/9/2005 @ 7:54 amMore thoughts on the Harriet Miers kerfuffle
After several updates my previous post on this subject is getting a little long. Guess it’s time to start a new one closer to the top of the page. Juliette Ochieng has a well thought out post on the Miers
Small Town Veteran (af7df9) — 10/9/2005 @ 4:14 pmReading that Senators don’t think Miers is prepared to answer difficult Constitutional questions makes me laugh. Those bozos wouldn’t recognize the Constitution if it hit them in the ass.
antimedia (e989c7) — 10/9/2005 @ 6:31 pmI hope they get some conservative to rip her butt apart with constitutional law final exam question. Just rip her to shreds. Little biddy.
And Bush the smartest man she’s ever met. Gawdam! Get the kneepads off honey…
TCO (b85fd9) — 10/11/2005 @ 8:54 am