I find it all amusing and entertaining. Because in the final analysis this sums it up correctly on several aspects.
The talking heads are devided, the base is dismayed by the talking heads but generally support the President. And the wise know "IT'S A CRAP SHOOT:"
Monday, October 10
EITHER WAY, IT'S A CRAP SHOOT: John Fund inadvertently makes the case in favor of Harriet Miers this morning by pointing out that conservatives have been burned on SCOTUS appointments by every Republican president since Eisenhower.
Presumably, all these nominations were made with the best of intentions; namely to seat qualified conservative-leaning justices on the court with the intention of either maintaining its balance or shifting it to the right. Yet conservatives got Blackmun from Nixon, Kennedy & O'Connor from Reagan, and Souter from Bush 41.
The point, of course, is that the nomination of a Supreme Court Justice is inherently a crap shoot. Miers may not be a movement conservative, but she could easily end up being another reliably conservative vote on the Court similar to Rehnquist or White. And John Roberts, the nominee conservatives just bent over backward to defend based on little more than intellectual pedigree and indefatigable charm, could just as easily turn out to be another Anthony Kennedy. Or it could be the reverse. There are no guarantees.
Does that mean the court needs a crony? No. But don't be misled by breathless recitations of Federalist No. 76. Only a fool would claim that Miers has "no other merit" to her nomination besides being a friend of Bush. Miers has a record of accomplishment and it's now up to her to demonstrate and defend her record and her views in front of the Judiciary Committee and the country. That's exactly how it should be.
The reason the Miers nomination was a bad one, in my opinion, is because it needlessly split the Republican base in two. Bush made the entire process (and by default the prospect of enacting the rest of his agenda) much more difficult than it had to be, and his presidency may suffer as a result.
In the end it may work out that Bush did conservatives a favor by eschewing another traditional pick like Roberts in favor of someone with practical experience and someone with whose character he had personal knowledge. But that, as they say, is something we won't know until we know.
In the meantime, the Republican base is in turmoil and Democrats can stand back and watch with glee, gather their breath and come up with a strategy to deal with Miers when she enters the Judiciary Committee hearings. - T. Bevan 9:45 am
realclearpolitics.com |
