Monday, October 03, 2005

Woe is Me, say they. Who is She, I say.

Ezra Klein says the Right is ready to jump off a cliff over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. He provides a round up of the Conservative Reaction to Miers, as does the Moderate Voice in Bush's Legal "Pit Bull" Miers Picked For Supreme Court, mostly filled with boo, hoo, hoo's.

Summing up the reactionary reaction is this from David From of the National Review: "This is the moment for which the conservative legal movement has been waiting for two decades--two decades in which a generation of conservative legal intellects of the highest ability have moved to the most distinguished heights in the legal profession. . .Yes, Democrats might have complained. But if Democrats had gone to war against a Michael Luttig or a Sam Alito or a Michael McConnell, they would have had to fight without weapons."

"There was no reason for him to choose anyone but one of these outstanding conservatives. As for the diversity argument, it just seems incredible to imagine that anybody would have criticized this president of all people for his lack of devotion to that doctrine."

This is the same David From who had this to say earlier about Mier (which was later deleted from his Blog after the announcement): "She rose to her present position by her absolute devotion to George Bush. I mentioned last week that she told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met. To flatter on such a scale a person must either be an unscrupulous dissembler, which Miers most certainly is not, or a natural follower. And natural followers do not belong on the Supreme Court of the United States."

Other than enjoying the pouting by the right, which is a short term pleasure, I don't know much of anything about Miers. Of course, the fact that she never served on the bench and has little, if any, trial experience, does not make me overjoyed about her ability. This is an extremely important position, so it should not be seen as yet another opportunity to reward a crony. Also, I'm also not hopeful about her views, despite the (over)reaction from the right.

My initial response to the nomination was best expressed by Eschaton:

"Wingnuttia is rather angry at the choice. I don't think this is because they're really concerned that she's not conservative enough for their tastes, although that's part of it. They're angry because this was supposed to be their nomination. This is was their moment. They didn't just want a stealth victory, they wanted parades and fireworks. They wanted Bush to find the wingnuttiest wingnut on the planet, fully clothed and accessorized in all the latest wingnut fashions, not just to give them their desired Court rulings, but also to publicly validate their influence and power. They didn't just want substantive results, what they wanted even more were symbolic ones. They wanted Bush to extend a giant middle finger to everyone to the left of John Ashcroft. They wanted to watch Democrats howl and scream and then ultimately lose a nasty confirmation battle. They wanted this to be their 'WE RUN THE COUNTRY AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT' moment."

UPDATE: The Left Coaster is compiling information, which will be updated on a regular basis, to answer the Question: Who is Harriet Miers?

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