"Do These People Know Their Audience Anymore?"
It seems that the RNC, seeing its natural constituency drying up over the Harriet Miers swindle, is raiding enemy villages to find its talking points on this misbegotten SCOTUS nomination:
I guess that's what she considers Miers' "supreme qualification."
They're also touting pro-Miers Extreme Media op-eds praising her left-of-center stances, such as her staunch support of unconstitutional affirmative action.
It seems clear to me from this that the White House has given up on its own base and is desperately resorting to the John McCain strategy (bypass the Right and try to win by pandering to the center-left).
That strategy failed, of course, in the 2000 GOP primaries. And the center-left's hatred for Bush is undiminished. Hmmm....
Hope it isn't too late for Dubya to take Peggy Noonan's advice.
UPDATE: More evidence that Bush has kissed off conservatives:
How will a deer-in-the-headlights/humina-humina-humina look come across as "unflappable, fair, and open-minded"? Or her previous selling by the White House to conservatives as a "reliable vote against Roe v. Wade"? Do they really think they're going to be able to pretend they never did that? I guess that prediction of confirmation "by a comfortable margin" answers that question.
And there's still more:
"Legal creativity" gave us Roe v. Wade. And Lawrence. And Kelo. Although, if this nomination weren't so apocalyptically appalling, it would have me doubled over in laughter at its roaring incompetence.
As to "sensitivity" to the "plight of the disadvantaged," that's just the kind of thing that leads to "legal creativity," and something for which, it seems to me, a "strict constructionist" who won't "legislate from the bench" would have no use.
The Bushies are through selling the President's "girl" to us, fellow perveyors of "background static." It's all about trying to prevent a Donk filibuster now.
[Mon]day the RNC circulated quotes from an op-ed by a woman lawyer who declared her old friend Harriet Miers is "supremely qualified" for the Court.
In her opinion piece for Bloomberg News, Martha Barnett, a past president of the ABA, recounts her collaboration with the nominee on ABA issues and praises her "reality tempered with practicality." She notes that Chief Justices Marshall and Rehnquist, like Miers, had no prior judicial experience. Barnett cites her and the President's friendship with Miers and sees friendship as a "valid and time-honored criterion for making high-level appointments."
I guess that's what she considers Miers' "supreme qualification."
Who is Martha Barnett, whose views the RNC expects its supporters to find persuasive? She is a partner in the law firm of Holland and Knight. Campaign finance records indicate that she donated $1,000 to John Kerry in 2004 and $1,000 to Betty Castor, who ran against Mel Martinez in Florida last year. She is a donor to Emily's List and her many accolades include the "Hillary Clinton Glass Cutter Award."Does this sound like a woman that even voted for George W. Bush either last year or in 2000?
They're also touting pro-Miers Extreme Media op-eds praising her left-of-center stances, such as her staunch support of unconstitutional affirmative action.
It seems clear to me from this that the White House has given up on its own base and is desperately resorting to the John McCain strategy (bypass the Right and try to win by pandering to the center-left).
That strategy failed, of course, in the 2000 GOP primaries. And the center-left's hatred for Bush is undiminished. Hmmm....
Hope it isn't too late for Dubya to take Peggy Noonan's advice.
UPDATE: More evidence that Bush has kissed off conservatives:
White House officials are again adjusting their strategy for winning Senate confirmation of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. Now the officials are emphasizing Miers’ “judicial temperament” and promising she will prove to everyone at her Senate hearings that she is unflappable, fair, and open-minded....“The hearings will allow her to show her temperament and that will be a big plus — it’s her nature to be fair-minded and that’s an important part of being a judge,” says a senior White House official, who predicted that, when all is said and done, Miers will be confirmed by a comfortable margin. — Bulletin exclusive from U.S. News
How will a deer-in-the-headlights/humina-humina-humina look come across as "unflappable, fair, and open-minded"? Or her previous selling by the White House to conservatives as a "reliable vote against Roe v. Wade"? Do they really think they're going to be able to pretend they never did that? I guess that prediction of confirmation "by a comfortable margin" answers that question.
And there's still more:
"Legal creativity. Miers wrote that 'the characteristics of great lawyers include: creativity, ingenuity, fortitude and dedication, flexibility, sometimes a healthy sense of humor or drama and other intangible traits.'"
"Miers' writings, published slightly more than a decade ago, reflected concern for the welfare of the community, the plight of the disadvantaged and the importance of professionalism. Sensitivity to those issues will help her to succeed as a member of the nation's highest tribunal."
"Legal creativity" gave us Roe v. Wade. And Lawrence. And Kelo. Although, if this nomination weren't so apocalyptically appalling, it would have me doubled over in laughter at its roaring incompetence.
As to "sensitivity" to the "plight of the disadvantaged," that's just the kind of thing that leads to "legal creativity," and something for which, it seems to me, a "strict constructionist" who won't "legislate from the bench" would have no use.
The Bushies are through selling the President's "girl" to us, fellow perveyors of "background static." It's all about trying to prevent a Donk filibuster now.
posted by JASmius at 10:21 AM
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