NOMINATING HARRIET MIERS: IS BUSH BRILLIANT OR BLACKMAILED?
If you don't appoint me, Mr. President, I will disclose these arrest records.
It's too early to reach any conclusions, but I have a few thoughts on G-Dub's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court:
1. Bush said of his choice, "I picked the best person I could find." Really? Your own former personal lawyer and staff secretary is the best person you could find? Who conducted the search -- Harriet Miers? Or the same head of the intelligence network that allegedly found WMDs in Iraq? Or do I repeat myself? This reminds me of when Dick Cheney headed the 2000 search for Bush's VP candidate and chose himself.
I'm surprised Bush didn't nominate his wife.
Needless to say, hundreds of judges and lawyers, including myself, remain insulted. At least she has experience in the law, as opposed to say, experience only in managing the Arabian Horse Association.
2. Not only is Miers an obvious Bush loyalist and a pimp of corporate interests, but she was the person who apparently helped hide Bush's drunk driving arrest. She also orchestrated the disappearance of his National Guard records.
She is, literally, the best friend that every guilty person wants: a buddy who pretends to be your alibi when you have an affair or kill someone. Needless to say, Bush is indebted to her, which explains the nomination. Or, perhaps, she blackmailed him into nominating her!
3. For those who haven't read this elsewhere, the above photograph was taken on August 6, 2001. Harriet Miers is the woman in the picture seen helping the president to pronounce the multisyllabic words on his daily "Stuff You Should Probably Know" briefings.
Interestingly, August 6, 2001 is also the day that Dubya ignored the Presidential Daily Briefing that indicated that Osama bin Laden was planning to attack the United States.
4. Bush's pick seems to please nobody. But is Bush brilliant? Did he appoint his personal lawyer to be on the Court so that she will secure the votes necessary to uphold the legality of a blueprint for mega-evil that he has in store? Will she ensure that the judicial branch keep horrific Bush-implicating secrets buried? Am I watching too many conspiracy movies?
5. It's interesting that many on the left and the right are essentially saying the same thing: (1) they're not thrilled with Miers, (2) her qualifications are questionable and fail to overcome the charges of obvious cronyism, (3) her nomination indicates Bush's waning strength, and (4) she must be forced to reveal her actual views at the Senate hearings.
If the right wing is frustrated with her, should those of us on the left support her? After all, if she is rejected, Bush could easily nominate a justice more in the mold of Scalia -- someone like Judge Michael Luttig who will be a reactionary giftbasket to the religious right.
Comment away.
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