Tom Goldstein, a respected lawyer, Supreme Court analyst for NPR, and host of the excellent SCOTUSblog, has predicted that the Senate will reject Harriet Miers’ nomination to the Supreme Court – a possibility I also floated here. Goldstein points out that (as I noted earlier this morning) early conservative reaction has been largely negative, that moderate Republicans have nothing to gain from going to the mat to support a weakened Bush’s weak choice, and that Democrats, even if they think they could do worse than Miers, will see this as an opportunity to score major political points by playing up Bush’s cronyism. All good points, and Goldstein may well be right. I’m not yet going to say I think he is right, but it’s certainly a strong possibility, especially if the Republican "base" doesn’t come around. Let’s see what Senator Brownback has to say.
Relatedly, the most detailed profile I’ve yet seen of Harriet Miers is this one, published in the NY Times about a year ago when Miers was named White House Counsel. The best thing about it is that it quotes exactly two individuals praising Miers on the record. One, of course, is President Bush. The other is Joseph Allbaugh. "Gosh," you say, "that name sounds familiar, but I can’t quite place it…." To refresh your recollection, Joseph Allbaugh was the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency before it was taken over by his long-time friend, then-second-in-command, and now disgraced ex-FEMA director Michael "heckuva job Brownie" Brown. Allbaugh is now a lobbyist apparently dedicated to winning no-bid contracts for his Halliburton-related clients to clean up after Hurricane Katrina (here is a longer story about some of the sleaze that Allbaugh has been involved in, and here is a story about the relationships among Bush, Allbaugh, Brown, and Halliburton et al.). That’s right: the only person the NY Times found to speak on the record about Harriet Miers was a Bush crony whose principal qualifications as FEMA director were having served as then-Gov. Bush’s chief of staff in Texas and as national campaign chairman of the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign. Speaks volumes, don’t it?
UPDATE: Here is another profile of Miers from a few months ago; this one does not quote Joseph Allbaugh.
I think this all depends on the Dems. If they stop rolling over for a weak president, this nomination is dead on arrival. I see no evidence she has any qualifications for this post. I mean WTF?? The first guy, for Chief Justice, has 2 years as a judge for experience…and then the next nominee has none as far as I can tell. I’m so sick of this crap. The American people deserve so much better. The erosion of the SC in the last 3 decades from political hackery is just…well, it’s a sign our democracy is in a lot of trouble.
Does anyone have any toughts on who they might like to get in, and who the Dems might actually have a chance with if they publicaly push for??? Or is it just hopeless??? Are we gonna totally have no shot at getting anyone half-way decent?
I agree that Miers will not be confirmed. The odds are against it. Even with a well-coached, impressive performance at the hearings, I think the odds are against Miers.Right now (Oct.11) pundits are saying that Miers will probably be confirmed because Pres. Bush still has A LOT of clout among GOP Senators, and he has made Miers’ confirmation a priority. But, I disagree.The math just isn’t there. I see ten (10)GOP Senators voting against Miers. 45 will support her. She’ll pick up maybe two (yes, two) Democratic Senators. She’ll be defeated 53-to-47. This is in line with Haynesworth’s 1969 defeat by 55-to-45, and Carswell’s 1970 defeat by 51-to-45.Miers can’t make it. The math isn’t there.
It is pretty amusing that any web site that claims to be about Massachusetts politics, would post anti-Bush, jarringly unfunny like for something called ‘Bush Crony Jobs’! Cronyism is what Massachusetts politics is all about! The hypocrisy is staggering! Oy Vey!
Correction!It is pretty amusing that any web site that claims to be about Massachusetts politics, would post anti-Bush, jarringly unfunny links for something called ‘Bush Crony Jobs’! Cronyism is what Massachusetts politics is all about! The hypocrisy is staggering! Oy Vey!