I just took a quick tour of conservative blogs for reaction to the Miers nomination. A few excerpts:
Feddie at Southern Appeal:
I am done with President Bush: Harriet Miers? Are you freakin’ kidding me?!
Can someone–anyone–make the case for Justice Miers on the merits? Seriously, this is the best the president could do?
. . . .
Un-freakin’-believable.
Oh, and if any of you RNC staffers are reading, you can take my name off the mailing list. I am not giving the national Republican Party another dime.
George Bush’s decision to appoint Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is bitterly disappointing.
Miers is a Bush crony with no real conservative credentials, who leapfrogged legions of more deserving judges just because she was Bush’s pal. She used to be Bush’s staff secretary for God’s sake and now she’s going to the Supreme Court while people like Michael Luttig, Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown & Emilio Garza are being left on the sidelines.
To merely describe Miers as a terrible pick is to underestimate her sheer awfulness as a selection.
It’s not just that Miers has zero judicial experience. It’s that she’s so transparently a crony/”diversity” pick while so many other vastly more qualified and impressive candidates went to waste. If this is President Bush’s bright idea to buck up his sagging popularity–among conservatives as well as the nation at large–one wonders whom he would have picked in rosier times. Shudder.
This nominee is a two-fer — she would not have been selected but for her gender, and she would not have been selected but for her status as a Bush crony. So instead of a 50-year old conservative experienced jurist we get a 60-year old with no judicial experience who may or may not be conservative.
I was hoping that, because this is Bush’s second term, he would thumb his nose at the diversity-mongers and appoint the best candidate. He thumbed his nose all right, but at conservatives.
I’m disappointed, depressed and demoralized.
. . .
I’m depressed. Roberts for O’Connor was an unambiguous improvement. Roberts for Rehnquist was an appropriate replacement. But moving Roberts over to the Rehnquist seat meant everything rode on this nomination–and that the president had to be ready to fight on constitutional grounds for a strong nominee. Apparently, he wasn’t. It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. Miers is undoubtedly a decent and competent person. But her selection will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination of cronyism and capitulation on the part of the president.
We’ve got a lot to learn about SCOTUS nominee Harriet Miers. To hear the White House tell us, “With her distinguished career and extensive community involvement, Ms. Miers would bring a wealth of personal experience and diversity to the Supreme Court.”
Diversity. Sure she does. In fact, she gives money to Republicans *and* Democrats.
Mr. President, you’ve got some explaining to do. And please remember – we’ve been defending you these five years because of this moment.
Mark Levin at Bench Memos:
The president and his advisors missed a truly historic opportunity to communicate with the American people about their government, the role of all three branches of the federal system, and the proper function of the judiciary. More importantly, they have failed to help the nation return to the equipoise of our constitutional system. And the current justices whose arrogance knows no bounds will be emboldened by this selection. They will see it as affirmation of their “extra-constitutionalism.” The president flinched. Some have compared have compared profligate spending to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. But no one will accuse him of FDR’s boldness when it comes to the Supreme Court.
If people are disappointed, they have every reason to be.
I’m appalled.
. . .
. . . This appointment reeks of cronyism, which along with prideful arrogance seems to be the besetting sin of the Bush presidency. At this point, I see no reason – none, nada, zilch – for conservatives who care about the courts to lift a finger to support this candidate.
Some bloggers are more positive, to be sure, but a surprising number aren’t.
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