I've decided I don't care what Harriet Miers' ideological positions are.

[Plaid Adder]

She is unqualified for the job. That should be the end of it.

If I were Ruth Bader Ginsberg or Sandra Day O'Connor, I would be spitting nails. They both had to work like demons to get where they are, and you can say what you want about O'Connor but both of them were coming up at a time when women lawyers were an endangered species. They made it because they had something.

Harriet Miers has a law degree and some experience practicing law. Great. If that were enough to get you a Supreme Court berth, my partner should have been appointed long ago. And I wish she had been, because I'm sure she's smarter than any woman who can say Bush is brilliant and mean it, and I'm sure she's got more integrity, better ethics, and a greater love of our COnstitutional freedoms than any woman who can look at George W. Bush and smile like she's glad to see him.

Miers's only relevant qualification is having licked Bush's cowboy boots for years. The fact that she once donated to Gore's presidential campaign--at a time when Texas was Democratic--merely indicates that she is a weathervane that follows the prevailing political winds. And sure, isn't that exactly who you want on the Supreme Court? You know, the body that's supposed to compensate for the whims and caprices of the democratic process because it's administered by people who don't have to run for election?

This is cronyism on an order of magnitude that I dreamt not of. Liza and I were thinking he would put up Owen, or Edith "Predator Class" Jones, or some other crazy Texas woman judge. We'd have been greatly upset by either, because they're both hard-right ideologues, plus Owen is a complete shill for big business--but at least they're judges. Fuckin' yeesh, man.

Best commentary I've seen on this was from a friend of mine on another list: "I've figured out how Bush makes his senior appointments. He looks around the room, and goes, 'Hey, how about you?'"

Sigh,

The Plaid Adder

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

1. Yes. The simplest reason is the right reason. Unqualified. period.

[Skink]

2. Bush sold out the Party...

:woohoo:

[MarvinBarns]

4. Bush misunderestimated again

Harry Reid and others have been sold a bill of goods.

This woman is a right wing evangelical Christian who believes in the literal interpetation of the Bible. She will read the words of the Constitution and never be able to interpet intent.

First to go will late term abortions, campaign finance laws, etc

[zbdent]

8. I don't buy that line of BS - it smells of a setup

"Oh, br'er bear, don't throw me in that there briar patch!"

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. Just the fact the Necons are so pissed makes this very interesting

I love it when they come out swinging at one Bush.

A dysfunctional family feud.

[Skinner]

5. I must admit a fair amount of unease about this pick.

Yesterday, I was pretty much in the if-the-extreme-right-is-pissed-then-it-must-be-good camp. But the more I think about it, the more one thing sticks in my craw: We don't know a damn thing about Harriet Miers.

And you can be damn sure that George W. Bush knows more about her than we do. His father goofed on the Souter nomination, and I highly doubt he would make the same mistake.

Apparently she is on the "Extreme End" Of Pro-Life Movement whatever the hell that means. But it can't be good.

During the Roberts nomination, a number of senators decried the extreme lack of info about him. But then they voted for him anyway. So Bush has pulled the same trick with Miers.

But the record is clear on one thing: Harriet Miers has even less constitutional/Supreme Court experience than John Roberts.

Are we entering into an era where lack of experience is now the best experience to become a Supreme Court Justice? I think it is obvious that we are. And I don't think that is a good thing. I'd rather that members of the Senate at least knew who they were voting on. I kinda think some long-term interest, and perhaps some evidence of respect and reverence for the Constitution of the United States would be a good thing for a Justice. Nominating random cronies with a history of partisanship can't be good for our country.

[Plaid Adder]

7. I'm sure that her opinions are 100% in line with Georgie's.

Which means no, it's not good. But I think the worst thing about her profile is that she has obviously made a career out of sucking up to the most powerful man in the room. Not only is that a VERY BAD profile for someone being considered for the Supreme Court, but it is, quite frankly, disgusting to me as a professional woman. That MSNBC piece starts off talking about how she was the first woman hired at Locke & Bidell, the first woman president of the Dallas Bar Association, yada yada...and the whole rest of the piece boils down to, "She's real loyal, and she stays out of the limelight cause she knows it's not her show."

Does anybody really think that once she's on the bench, she'll be thinking for herself? It doesn't look like that's ever been part of her professional profile. She's going to be someone's stooge, and if it's not Bush, it'll probably be Scalia.

The best we can hope for from this nomination is that she is withdrawn after a bruising civil war within the Republican party.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[yellowcanine]

6. Is the comparison of Miers to White and Rehnquist a fair one?

White was a Yale Law School graduate and clerked for Supreme Court Chief Justice Fred Vinson.

Rehnquist was a Stanford Law School graduate and clerked for for Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson.

Miers was a Southern Methodist University Law School graduate and clerked for U.S. District Judge Joe E. Estes. Note: A district court is not an appellate court.


I report, you make the call.

[johnnie]

9. I feel there is something more here than meets the eye

It is quite obvious that Miers is very unqualified for the position but yet there she is. It is hard for me to believe that georgie just picked her out of thin air without consulting with anyone and being told that people will question this choice because of her lack of qualifications.

Something else is going on here but I can't figure it out yet.

[Jacobin]

10. nevermind

Justice Roseanne Roseannadana

[Generic Other]

11. 100% agreement

Between Miers and Brownie put together, there's not enough legal experience to fill thimble.

The only notable thing Miers has done is keep her client out of jail (thus far). She sure hasn't given him good advice about staying out of trouble.

[elehhhhna]

12. A 50-something virgin hardly qualifies as a female appointee.

flame away.

An asexual chruchnut is about as far from American Women as one can GET.

When she said "GW's the smartest man I ever met" she should have been struck by lightening or put in a starightjacket. Or both.

W means WACKJOB appointees.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

13. I'm afraid Miers is just going to

rubber stamp scalia & thomas' opinions. That's all she's there for. dumbya knows damn good & well what her leanings are; far right. She may have been a trailblazer for women in the '60's, but now she's a follower. This is a woman who said dumbya is "the most brilliant man I know'. If that doesn't tell people all they need to know about miers, I don't know what will.

Unfortunately, I see no way out for the Dems. They filibuster & dumbya just puts forward another right-wing whack job.

best

[craychek]

14. this is nothing new

This is NOT a precident that she doesn't have experience. 41... yes that's FORTY-ONE of the supreme court judges that have been appointed over the years have had ZERO experience as a judge. I hate to burst your bubble, but this isn't really a reason to not allow her in.

[Ganja Ninja]

15. Look, Bush will never appoint anyone a liberal would like.

The best we should hope for is someone that is old, in frail health and one foot in the grave. That's all I hope for.

[Avalux]

16. But she's got strength of character?

Isn't that enough to make her a good SC judge? Listening to this farce of a press conference, idiot boy would have us think so.

Bottom like for me - she will do ANYTHING Bushco wants. ANYTHING, regardless of the Constitution. She is being placed there to protect that lying sack of shit and his cohorts because they know what's coming down the pike. Forget about any kind of voting reform too.

Disturbing to say the least.