Pro-Miers and Con-Miers Arguments with Sources

[dirae.livejournal.com]

Prof. Bainbridge: "..the Miers nomination is one more example of Bush's increasingly obvious contempt for his own base..."

Mark Steyn: "...come on, the 'compassionate conservative' thing was, in its implications, far more insulting to the base than the steel tariffs or the proposed illegal immigrant amnesty or the judicial nominees. Bush, it seems ever more obvious, is the Third Wayer Clinton only pretended to be..."

Erm. Ok, I'll admit that I am not up in arms about Bush "offending" his base with the seemingly milquetoast nomination of Harriet Miers (it seems to me that the nomination offends just about everyone equally). However, on the other side, I am not embracing the team playing stance of presidential trust either. The emerging message of "She's one of us and she's with us on abortion" leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Lip service, said a good friend of mine, isn't much comfort when it goes against the very "philosophy" Bush claims he believes in--a judicial ethic of no personally imposed points of view. I wish others would remember that Justice O'Connor was also personally opposed to abortion--among other things--though one would be hard-pressed to discover her ‘personal’ beliefs amid her rulings. So much for cheerleading personal mores as justification of someone's conservative intentions on the bench...

Simply put, we're just seeing bad judgement leading to a poor choice played out in a political arena. As Peggy Noonan said, the quarterback is left looking foolish while spectators and commentators are booing. Anyhoo...

Here is a handy chart that details both sides of the debate regarding Harriet Miers.