WAS MIERS’ NOMINATION STUPID OR BRILLIANT?
I have to begin this by saying I love conspiracy theories, or rather the idea of conspiracies. Reading to much Tom Clancy will do that to you.
With that being said, I’d like to offer a theory of my own for your debate. Harriet Miers’ nomination and subsequent withdrawl was a calculated political ploy that will allow Bush to nominate a very conservative judge to the court with little or no opposition and will help the Republican Party in the coming election cycle.
Fact #1: The Bush team had to know, HAD TO KNOW, that the Miers nomination would not be very well received by certain members of the conservative movement. They were told as much prior to the announcement. They also had to know that the Democrats and the anit-judiciary machine behind them would go nuts over someone so obviously lacking in experience. So why do it?
Fact #2: If you take the Harriet Miers story out of the news cycle, the only thing left is “The Leak”. As it is now, Miers’ nomination beat that story to the back page, her backing out is going to be the talk for days and then the next nominee (the real one) will be the next big story.
Fact #3: Up until the Miers nomination one of the big cards liberals played against Republicans was that the party was being steered by the religious right/ulta-conservative base. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve seen talking about how Bush has abonded his base.
Fact #4: Whoever the new nominee is ( I think Janice Rogers Brown) the Democrats are going to look like nattering nabobs of negativism when they oppose that nominee. All Americans are going to say, “Come on already!”
What has the Miers nomination done?
A. Created some cover for Rove and company during the Plame name leak investigation.
B. Forced the left’s “anti-judiciary machine” to expend time and energy chasing a red herring.
C. Set up the next nominee, if they have any qualifications at all, to look like a superstar.
D. Sets up the Democrats who will oppose the next nominee, and they will, as whiners.
E. Allows Bush to play hardball on a “real” choice for the bench.
F. Helps Republicans in the next election in a number of ways such as; Allowing Republicans who opposed the nomination to say, “See, I’m not a Bush rubber stamper”, Let’s swing voters know that the Republican party is not run by the radical right, and there are more advantages.
It’s amazing to consider how many real advantages there are to the Miers nomination. If it was part of a master plan, it would be akin to what the German army did in World War II. Young, inexperience soldiers would be sent by the thousands to a particular front with no real hope of victory. The real purpose was to draw attention away from the real battle plans, force the enemy to expend manpower, time and energy, while allowing the experienced German soldiers to prepare for the real battle.
The Miers nomination may not have been a calculated move. It may have been a stupid blunder. But it’s a blunder with no real down side and a lot of advantages. What do you think?
Lug Says: November 2nd, 2005 at 4:30 pm
A…B..C…D…E…and F!!!
Rope…a…Dope!!!
Jack Antilla Says: November 3rd, 2005 at 5:07 am
I agree I think the democrats will probably appose most nominees, but they do it with reason. Sam Ileto Will probably get hit hard for his extreamly harsh rulings, and that he’s a hard federalist meaning states rights are not much of a concern to him, etc… The democratic party will deffinitly not like this because they are more for social and states rights.
I find it interesting that the president hasn’t chosen a more balanced Republican. I think he’s forgoten that a republican is a republican no matter what side of the spectrum they’re on, It would definetly help him if a more moderate nominee was chosen, he’d stillhavea republican on the bench, just not with such a hard rightwing view. I don’t think democrats would mind it AS MUCh if they were more balanced, they’d still try to fight it probably, just not with as much force.
Sad they day Politics has degenerated into war metaphores. It’s not supposed to be a power grab it’s supposed to have some sort of civic virtue in it as the farmers intended.