I really don’t get it. Did Bush learn nothing from the Mike Brown/FEMA flap?
I’m sure Harriet Miers is a nice person. But what is it with this administration appointing people to high positions just because they are nice people — people that you would want to have a beer with? Or, in Ms. Miers case, tea?
This is the highest court in the land. Her vote could be the swing on many important legal and social issues. Is she the best qualified? Is she even the best qualified woman? Is she even the best qualified conservative woman?
There’s something very disturbing about the way Bush selects people. I’m sure he "trusts" her, but the problem is . . . most people (especially right now) don’t trust Bush’s decision-making skills!!
Part of me wonders if this isn’t some part of a larger plan:
(1) Bush nominates a "stealth" justice. Someone who has almost no paper trial. And, being a former White House counsel, don’t expect to see too much paper coming from the White House for the Judiciary Committee to mull (thank you, attorney-client privilege).
(2) She has no judicial experience. Not that I, personally, find this to be a problem — Rehnquist, Byron White, and many others had no judicial experience before being appointed to the Supreme Court. But it doesn’t sit well in the wake of former Arabian horse judge Michael Brown’s embarrassing tenure as FEMA Director. My problem is that she seems to lack some actual courtroom experience. I mean, as she even been in the Supreme Court??
(3) It reaks of cronyism. She’s a Bushbot from way back.
(4) The foregoing will cause consternation among Democrats, and not a few Republicans. She gets rejected.
(5) "Fine", says Bush. And then he nominates Priscilla Owens, or some other horrible arch-conservative judicial activist — someone with a clear (ultra-conservative) paper trial, unquestionable experience, and not susceptible to cronyism charges. And the fight from the Dems will have been spent on defeating Miers.
UPDATE: I’m not the only one thinking this. Nope.
Anyway, it seems nobody is particularly happy about her for many of the same reasons. Many on the right are outright upset. Reactions below the fold.