What Really Went Wrong With The Miers Nomination
The nomination of Harriet Miers has unleashed a firestorm across the blogosphere and debating circles of the GOP for the last week. As Capt. Ed appropriately pointed out yesterday—and I commented on yesterday—there are three basic factions fighting over the Miers nomination. This fighting, however, wouldn’t be happening had the GOP not dilly-dallied earlier this year, or in the previous four years. For those that are lost, let me remind you of the single most devastating move made by the Senate in years. It was the Gang of 14 deal, led by Sen. McCain.
McCain had been vehemently opposed to the removal of the filibuster in the Senate. The problem is that the filibuster itself is extra-Constitutional. It’s nowhere in the Constitution, but it is in the Senate’s rules, which the Constitution states that both houses may make rules to govern themselves. OK. Fine. Run your filibuster, but it was never allowed on nominations made by the president.
And the deal struck by Republicans and Democrats—that wonderful bi-partisan, meddling group of morons—ensured this sort of a nominee would be named. As Marcie pointed out earlier today, thanks to an excellent column written by John Fund, the White House was scared about the next nominee, and a possible filibuster by the Democrats.
The White House professes to be sanguine about Ms. Miers's reliability, while at the same time expressing irritation with conservatives who won't fall into line. Time magazine quotes a Bush adviser as saying that the "driving force" behind Ms. Miers's appointment was White House chief of staff Andy Card, not Karl Rove. "This is something that Andy and the president cooked up," the adviser told Time. "Andy knew it would appeal to the president because he loves appointing his own people and being supersecret and stealthy about it." Despite his lack of hands-on involvement, Mr. Rove has stoutly defended the Miers pick to allies as a brilliant "Trojan horse"--a conservative nominee who will avoid any possible Democratic filibuster.
They wouldn’t have been facing such a fight had the GOP pulled their collective thumbs out of their @$$es and moved on the Constitutional Option. But, they dawdled. They twiddled their thumbs for four years, complained the Democrats weren’t playing fair, and when they finally got around to doing something about it, they were again stabbed in the back by not just one of their own, but seven of them; the Seditious Seven of McCain, Snowe, Chaffee, Collins, Warner, DeWine, and Graham.
I warned about the deal when it happened in May. I warned that this move would ensure that these people would be the fourteen most powerful people in the Senate. And it’s been proven to be so. Who’re the first people the media run to when it comes to a judicial nominee now? Members of the Gang of 14. When the opposition to Miers mounted, the first people to assure everyone that she’s fine—aside from the White House—are members of the Gang of 14. People like Charles Krauthammer and Ann Coulter want Miers withdrawn or defeated.
She’s not going to be withdrawn by the president unless a really egregious and grotesque skeleton is pulled out of her closet. If that were to happen, that would be even worse for the president; he’d have to admit—publicly—that even he was wrong on his close, personal friend. And I don’t see her being defeated. She may, indeed, be unsupported in the committee, but as she is a USSC nominee, she still passes to the Senate for her vote.
The Times today, as Sabrina pointed out, shows that 27 Republicans are not too happy with Miers. Let’s do the math here, folks. We have 55 seats in the Senate. Subtract 27 from that, and we’re left with 28 GOP senators that may side with the Democrats. Democrats have 45 seats, and need only six Republicans to cross the aisle, and vote in favor of Miers. Meanwhile, we’re exhibiting signs of being fractured, and spiraling out of control.
We’re neither. We are still fully in control as the majority party. Fractured? Um, no, not even close. Fractured is what you get when "Howling Mad" Howie makes ludicrous statements about the GOP, and he own party has to tell him to "cool it." We are simply debating the nominee. One side says she’s qualified, the side the Asylum is now firmly in states she isn’t, and the third side is saying, "Can’t we all just get along, and wait for the hearings?" Sure we can, but as was admitted today by my other two fellow lunatics, we—those opposed to the nominee because we haven’t seen proof of her judicial philosophy—are gaining people on our side. And that's because we have made a compelling argument that while we will wait for the hearings, there's still too much information already out there that show she may not be the nominee the White is painting her to be.
The extreme Right—the Ann Coulters, Bill Kristols, and Pat Buchanans—are beginning to lose the momentum. People aren’t listening to them because they sound so damned hysterical. It’s one thing to utter an opinion. It’s another to run around playing the role of Chicken Little. The sky will not cave in should Miers make it to the high court, which I’m sure she will be barring a severe gaffe in the hearings.
But the point of the Miers nomination rests in the Gang of 14 deal. Thanks to that deal, the White House didn’t want to nominate a Luttig, or a Brown, or a Williams for fear that the Democrats would filibuster them to death. And it’s equally clear to see that the president isn’t willing to rely on a recess appointment to the court; he thinks it would look too partisan and too divisive. What I’m afraid the president doesn’t get is how much this fight will count in the years to come.
Publius II
The nomination of Harriet Miers has unleashed a firestorm across the blogosphere and debating circles of the GOP for the last week. As Capt. Ed appropriately pointed out yesterday—and I commented on yesterday—there are three basic factions fighting over the Miers nomination. This fighting, however, wouldn’t be happening had the GOP not dilly-dallied earlier this year, or in the previous four years. For those that are lost, let me remind you of the single most devastating move made by the Senate in years. It was the Gang of 14 deal, led by Sen. McCain.
McCain had been vehemently opposed to the removal of the filibuster in the Senate. The problem is that the filibuster itself is extra-Constitutional. It’s nowhere in the Constitution, but it is in the Senate’s rules, which the Constitution states that both houses may make rules to govern themselves. OK. Fine. Run your filibuster, but it was never allowed on nominations made by the president.
And the deal struck by Republicans and Democrats—that wonderful bi-partisan, meddling group of morons—ensured this sort of a nominee would be named. As Marcie pointed out earlier today, thanks to an excellent column written by John Fund, the White House was scared about the next nominee, and a possible filibuster by the Democrats.
The White House professes to be sanguine about Ms. Miers's reliability, while at the same time expressing irritation with conservatives who won't fall into line. Time magazine quotes a Bush adviser as saying that the "driving force" behind Ms. Miers's appointment was White House chief of staff Andy Card, not Karl Rove. "This is something that Andy and the president cooked up," the adviser told Time. "Andy knew it would appeal to the president because he loves appointing his own people and being supersecret and stealthy about it." Despite his lack of hands-on involvement, Mr. Rove has stoutly defended the Miers pick to allies as a brilliant "Trojan horse"--a conservative nominee who will avoid any possible Democratic filibuster.
They wouldn’t have been facing such a fight had the GOP pulled their collective thumbs out of their @$$es and moved on the Constitutional Option. But, they dawdled. They twiddled their thumbs for four years, complained the Democrats weren’t playing fair, and when they finally got around to doing something about it, they were again stabbed in the back by not just one of their own, but seven of them; the Seditious Seven of McCain, Snowe, Chaffee, Collins, Warner, DeWine, and Graham.
I warned about the deal when it happened in May. I warned that this move would ensure that these people would be the fourteen most powerful people in the Senate. And it’s been proven to be so. Who’re the first people the media run to when it comes to a judicial nominee now? Members of the Gang of 14. When the opposition to Miers mounted, the first people to assure everyone that she’s fine—aside from the White House—are members of the Gang of 14. People like Charles Krauthammer and Ann Coulter want Miers withdrawn or defeated.
She’s not going to be withdrawn by the president unless a really egregious and grotesque skeleton is pulled out of her closet. If that were to happen, that would be even worse for the president; he’d have to admit—publicly—that even he was wrong on his close, personal friend. And I don’t see her being defeated. She may, indeed, be unsupported in the committee, but as she is a USSC nominee, she still passes to the Senate for her vote.
The Times today, as Sabrina pointed out, shows that 27 Republicans are not too happy with Miers. Let’s do the math here, folks. We have 55 seats in the Senate. Subtract 27 from that, and we’re left with 28 GOP senators that may side with the Democrats. Democrats have 45 seats, and need only six Republicans to cross the aisle, and vote in favor of Miers. Meanwhile, we’re exhibiting signs of being fractured, and spiraling out of control.
We’re neither. We are still fully in control as the majority party. Fractured? Um, no, not even close. Fractured is what you get when "Howling Mad" Howie makes ludicrous statements about the GOP, and he own party has to tell him to "cool it." We are simply debating the nominee. One side says she’s qualified, the side the Asylum is now firmly in states she isn’t, and the third side is saying, "Can’t we all just get along, and wait for the hearings?" Sure we can, but as was admitted today by my other two fellow lunatics, we—those opposed to the nominee because we haven’t seen proof of her judicial philosophy—are gaining people on our side. And that's because we have made a compelling argument that while we will wait for the hearings, there's still too much information already out there that show she may not be the nominee the White is painting her to be.
The extreme Right—the Ann Coulters, Bill Kristols, and Pat Buchanans—are beginning to lose the momentum. People aren’t listening to them because they sound so damned hysterical. It’s one thing to utter an opinion. It’s another to run around playing the role of Chicken Little. The sky will not cave in should Miers make it to the high court, which I’m sure she will be barring a severe gaffe in the hearings.
But the point of the Miers nomination rests in the Gang of 14 deal. Thanks to that deal, the White House didn’t want to nominate a Luttig, or a Brown, or a Williams for fear that the Democrats would filibuster them to death. And it’s equally clear to see that the president isn’t willing to rely on a recess appointment to the court; he thinks it would look too partisan and too divisive. What I’m afraid the president doesn’t get is how much this fight will count in the years to come.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 12:47 PM
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