Conservative Opposition to Miers Just Keeps Coming
Too much to track or bother linking to - but if you go here, you'll find lots of links.
To the Centerman, it seems that the key to understanding the intensity of conservative opposition to the nomination is to understand that it is not about Miers – or at least not only Miers. Miers is a proxy for conservative frustration over a whole host of issues – spending; the education bill; McCain-Feingold; immigration; steel quotas; the apparent refusal (as some see it) of the administration to articulately defend the war; and even the current polls. It is not helped by Sen. Lindsey Graham’s “just shut up,” remark to conservatives, nor by Ed Gillespie suggesting critics are “sexist.” Conservatives wanted something really tangible, a clear reward for the trust they have put in the President. Instead, they got, “Trust me.”
For the Centerman, there is reason to think Miers could be OK. It will be good to have a corporate attorney on the bench. Read the Court's opinions on corporate law - they have a tentativeness that makes them read as if they should be prefaced with, "How did a nice bunch of corporate law amateurs like us end up here?" There are many important issues decided by the Court besides such hot buttons as abortion, gay marriage, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the like. Miers looks like she may add something when these issues come before the Court.
Meanwhile, some liberals flip out over her apparent religious convictions. The Centerman, on the other hands, sees these convictions as offering another perspective sorely needed on the Court, a perspective shared by millions of Americans yet clearly given short shrift by the Court in recent decades. It is this - not her sex - that is the diversity Miers brings.
This is not an endorsement of Miers. The Centerman is disturbed by the apparent cronyism; disappointed that President apparently felt that the positive perspectives noted above could not be found in a nominee with stronger qualifications; concerned that we don't really have much about Miers to go on - the judgements made in the two preceding paragraphs could turn out to be entirely off base.
But it seems a given that she'll be confirmed if she does not withdraw (would you?), so we may as well look on the bright side.
To the Centerman, it seems that the key to understanding the intensity of conservative opposition to the nomination is to understand that it is not about Miers – or at least not only Miers. Miers is a proxy for conservative frustration over a whole host of issues – spending; the education bill; McCain-Feingold; immigration; steel quotas; the apparent refusal (as some see it) of the administration to articulately defend the war; and even the current polls. It is not helped by Sen. Lindsey Graham’s “just shut up,” remark to conservatives, nor by Ed Gillespie suggesting critics are “sexist.” Conservatives wanted something really tangible, a clear reward for the trust they have put in the President. Instead, they got, “Trust me.”
For the Centerman, there is reason to think Miers could be OK. It will be good to have a corporate attorney on the bench. Read the Court's opinions on corporate law - they have a tentativeness that makes them read as if they should be prefaced with, "How did a nice bunch of corporate law amateurs like us end up here?" There are many important issues decided by the Court besides such hot buttons as abortion, gay marriage, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the like. Miers looks like she may add something when these issues come before the Court.
Meanwhile, some liberals flip out over her apparent religious convictions. The Centerman, on the other hands, sees these convictions as offering another perspective sorely needed on the Court, a perspective shared by millions of Americans yet clearly given short shrift by the Court in recent decades. It is this - not her sex - that is the diversity Miers brings.
This is not an endorsement of Miers. The Centerman is disturbed by the apparent cronyism; disappointed that President apparently felt that the positive perspectives noted above could not be found in a nominee with stronger qualifications; concerned that we don't really have much about Miers to go on - the judgements made in the two preceding paragraphs could turn out to be entirely off base.
But it seems a given that she'll be confirmed if she does not withdraw (would you?), so we may as well look on the bright side.
posted by The Centerman | 11:16 PM
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