Patterico's Pontifications

10/21/2005

Washington Times Says White House Is Preparing for Possible Miers Withdrawal

Filed under: Judiciary — Patterico @ 11:33 pm



Am I wrong to assume that Miers is still going to be confirmed? I don’t think so. But a new article in the Washington Times makes me wonder. It’s titled Insiders see hint of Miers pullout, and pits anonymous Republicans against the White House:

The White House has begun making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush’s choice to fill a seat on the Supreme Court, conservative sources said yesterday.

“White House senior staff are starting to ask outside people, saying, ‘We’re not discussing pulling out her nomination, but if we were to, do you have any advice as to how we should do it?’ ” a conservative Republican with ties to the White House told The Washington Times yesterday.

The White House denied making such calls.

“Absolutely not true,” White House spokesman Trent Duffy said.

Everything the Republicans say, the White House denies:

But a conservative political consultant with ties to the White House said that he had received such a query from Sara Taylor, director of the Office of White House Political Affairs.

Miss Taylor denied making any such calls.

and denies:

A second Republican, who is the leader of a conservative interest group and has ties to the White House, confirmed that the White House is making calls to a select group of conservative activists who are not employed by the government.

“The political people in the White House are very worried about how she will do in the hearings,” the second conservative leader said. “I think they have finally awakened.”

“Absolutely false,” Miss Taylor said. “Some of these conspiracy theories have risen to a new level.”

I don’t know who to believe — and I am generally suspicious of anonymous sources.

Still — you want to believe . . .

14 Responses to “Washington Times Says White House Is Preparing for Possible Miers Withdrawal”

  1. I am deeply disappointed at the lengths to which the President’s former allies have gone to besmirch his character. They are proving themselves wretched in their faithlessness. May the President never forget their cruelty and never forgive their betrayal.

    Questioning his service in the Texas Guard as a way to avoid service in Vietnam, investigating the favors that his father had called in to get him his slot, the coverup by the Texas Lottery Commission, and then his year-long absence from his Guard duties. These are all false charges. Patently false. And yet these people think that they can threaten the President to withdraw his nominee if they blacken his great name.

    Much the same as the slurs that Ann Coulter made a few weeks ago when she referred to the President’s drunkenness and drug abuse. Again patent falsehoods. Yet she decided to fan the flames of a nonexistent fire.

    And the many conservative commentators who continue to deride the powerful intellect of the President by choosing to caricature his ‘chimpish’ mannerisms, his ‘below-average’ intelligence, his ‘pronounced inanities’ when speaking in public, and his ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ incompetence in the face of crises. Again, all false charges, made by fairweather conservative ‘friends’ for the purpose of burning their bridges with the President.

    I dearly hope the President believes in returning measure for measure.

    After he is successful in placing his wise and able counselor, Harriet Miers, on the Supreme Court (for who among you in the peanut gallery believes you can defeat this President?) I pray he shows no restraint at rooting out these wolves clothed as sheep.

    I, like Ms. Miers and Condoleeza Rice, believe this President is one of the strongest, smartest, shrewdest, and savviest individuals ever to sit in the Oval Office. I fully trust his judgment of Ms. Miers, and I pray daily that he is able to vanquish his foes on the right, and deal a death blow to the traitorous opposition of the left.

    Mr. President, in your hour of victory, do not forget the shame that these dissenters from within your party have tried (and failed) to bring to your good name. Their dissent should always, always be equated with their treason.

    Erin O'Malley (d8fd50)

  2. All Federal Judges take an oath of office.
    As I understand it, they raise their right hand and swear to uphold The Constitution of the United States.
    There have been many instances of Judges who have in the past, even Supreme Court Judges, violated this oath.
    I have questions to anyone out there?
    Who enforces that Oath?
    Why is it not enforced?
    Could petitions be joined?
    Congress, I believe has this power but does anyone else?
    I am also wondering if the oath is unenforceable, why bother?
    Impeaching judes may be considered a “slippery slope” but it is past time to reign a few of them in.

    Paul Albers (7494b1)

  3. Erin~

    You fail to consider the sense of betrayal expressed by many of Bush’s constituents. Like respect, loyalty only works when it is reciprocal.

    At what point does loyalty to your country supersede loyalty to your party?

    Tillman (1cf529)

  4. If the WH is NOT preparing for the withdrawal contingency, then determination has crossed the thin line into fanaticism. With the sole exception of Cornyn, not a single senator seems prepared to spek on her behalf. And did anyone (besides Mickey Kaus) notice Harry Reid’s careful declaration last week that he has NOT endorsed Miers? That one had to send chills down the WH’s collective spine, for the whole rationale for the Mier’s nomination was that the the Democrats would let her slide through because Reid suggested her.

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre…

    This is going south fast.

    piper1 (ef0643)

  5. Erin,

    GWB’s faithful allies are calling on Miers to withdraw. It’s the hate-filled, barking moonbats on the Left who produce the sort of propaganda you post.

    For example, Conservatives don’t bash GWB about his TANG service. Lefty Dan Rather and CBS did that. Of course, they had lots of help from Democrats, Socialists, and their friends in MSM.

    Also, I don’t recall Ann Coulter making the remarks you put in her mouth. Sure seems you enjoy reciting the Left’s list of hate inspired calumnies against President Bush.

    Why do that sort of thing if you support the President? Perhaps you don’t. No. You’re no friend of either GWB or the GOP. You’re a fraud plain and simple. Your words prove it.

    Conservative commentators don’t deride GWB’s intellect, so-called Liberals do that. Nor do Conservatives caricature GWB as “chimpish” or consider him “below average” in intelligence. We also don’t make fun of his public speaking.

    No, Erin O’Mally, if that’s your name, GWB’s faithful allies don’t get down in the gutter you’re in. Nor do we pray to false gods.

    Black Jack (ee9fe2)

  6. Erin: Subtle. Very subtle.

    actus (c9e62e)

  7. Miers Pullout Options

    The White House is rumored to be quietly exploring its options for withdrawing Miers’ nomination, according to the Washington Times.
    The White House has begun making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers as President Bush’…

    Myopic Zeal (739a0c)

  8. Erin,

    You seem to forget that it’s Bush’s GOP supporters who’ve been slaving away, for *decades*, working in the trenches, fending off the best and worst the Dems could toss out, to defend him, get him elected and give him a solid Republican Senate. Yet he turns around and betrays them with someone like Harriet Miers, who is vocally in support of affirmative action race-based quotas– a direct anathema to one of the most cherished principles of conservatives (or Americans in general, for that matter). If he fails to withdraw Harriet Miers, Bush is the traitor, not the grunts in the trenches.

    Firebreather (4fd023)

  9. C’mon, guys. Erin O’Malley is either a satirist or a troll. My guess is satirist.

    In any event, the worms with the sharp pointy hooks on them are not good to eat.

    –JRM

    JRM (5e00de)

  10. I’m sure people are talking about this at mid-level staff range. But I wouldn’t get my hopes up yet.

    Crank (c0f677)

  11. Erin —

    You ALMOST had me! I first thought you were a saterist — but when I re-read your post, I GOT IT! You are a Democratic Eris (close to “Erin,” huh?).

    Really, the best thing you can do, when your enemies are fighting amongst themselves, it bite your tongue and slightly frown.

    Kneave Riggall (ef6f17)

  12. At what point does loyalty to your country supersede loyalty to your party?

    Tillman ask a good question for once and the answer is quite clear. The Establishment Repubs clearly love the Party more than the Country for no one believes that Miers is the best. Those who put Country first will only stand for the best and not “B+” picks for a an “A+” America.

    Septeus7 (bb34f6)

  13. Damn it! I didn’t proofread. Now Patterico will say I’m unqualified to comment on his blog.

    Septeus7 (bb34f6)

  14. I think it’s about time. This seems to have been a bad move from the beginning.

    Why doesn’t the president nominate one of the ladies that caused the uproar and avoidance of the nuclear option?

    See you on the high ground!

    MajorDad1984

    MajorDad1984 (47d8a5)


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