It is of course, a big news story, because of the following reasons:
- Miers is the current White House Counsel - the President's close legal advisor. This means that she is one of Bush's closest confidantes.
- Although an experienced lawyer (she once headed the Texas State Bar) she has never worked as a judge.
- Most members of the Supreme Court work as Federal judges with the US Court of Appeals for many years before being appointed to the highest court. Some judges (including the retiring Sandra Day-O'Connor) get appointed without this experience, but it is rare.
- She has worked closely with George W. Bush since 1995.
- The feeling that George Bush has selected political appointees to important government posts who do not have the required experience (eg Michael D. Brown, former head of FEMA, the man who has taken most of the blame over the Hurricane Katrina problems).
- The recent history of many Christian conservatives (including my best mate Al Mohler) to become very angry about "activist judges". This group will no doubt want someone who is willing to take a conservative/originalist view of the US Constitution.
- A media outcry that the President is again rewarding political allies with high positions in government - except this one is several steps too far.
- An in-depth media analysis that focuses upon whether Miers actually has what it takes to be a member of the Supreme Court. Chances are that the analysis will be short and swift, determining that she is definitely NOT the right person for the job.
- An outpouring of support for Miers by members of the Christian right. Expect to see a blog of support from my best mate Al.
- Levels of reasonable doubt expressed by a number of conservative and moderate Republicans who have been unhappy with W. for a while. Expect John McCain to get angry.
- Dick Cheney will talk about how wonderful Harriet is and how she'd make a great addition to the court.
- An analysis of whether Bush's inner advisors have failed to communicate to their boss the serious political repercussions of such an announcement. Include in this a failure of many advisors to speak the truth and become "yes-men". This then turns the focus on whether Bush is actually competent to lead or not, since he created the insular bubble he now operates in.
- Polls that show an even lower level of support for W. in the light of this announcement.
- An eventual backing-down of W. and more articles about whether his presidency has gone "lame-duck". Despite backing-down, he does not apologise.
From the Department of Wha's Happnin?
© 2005 Neil McKenzie Cameron, http://one-salient-oversight.blogspot.com/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.
1 comment:
Dick Cheney will talk about how wonderful Harriet is and how she'd make a great addition to the court.
Rush Limbaugh interviews with Dick Cheney:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_100305/content/cheney100305.guest.html
We think in Judge Roberts we found the best of the lot in terms of an extraordinarily competent and capable jurist who has argued cases before the Supreme Court, etcetera. But we think it was important as well to have somebody like Harriet who's got a strong legal background, but who doesn't come off the bench. She's been out in private practice. She's been actively involved in public affairs for five years now. She's served ably as the staff secretary, deputy chief of staff and White House counsel to the president, and brings a different perspective than some of the other candidates would have brought to it, but, as I say, we're convinced that you indeed will find that Harriet is one of those people who believes very deeply in the Constitution and the laws as written, and that she's not going to be legislating from the bench.
I guess that's one prediction fulfillefd...
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