So long, Harriet

What does it all mean, Mr. Natural?

Well, any one of a number of things:

  • That the president has finally learned a valuable and long overdue lesson, which is don’t stick by a bad or questionable decision (and I would still put Harriet Miers in the "questionable" Miers2 category; this process didn’t get far enough for me to judge whether it was bad). This would be good news. Now maybe he’ll get rid of Rummy, and start prosecuting this war the right way.
  • That Karl Rove is too busy sweating out what the grand jury will do to remind the president to stick to his guns, come hell or (quite literally) high water. This would be good, too.
  • That Mr. Bush caved in to the ideologues on the right. This would be bad. Not that I disagree with folks who oppose abortion. But both sides insisting upon having a huge fight over that one issue with everyone nominated for a federal court is extremely destructive to the judiciary.
  • That without a solid front on the right, he feared he could not get her past the ideologues on the left. Also bad.
  • That the president is so weak politically that he can’t mount this fight effectively. This would be bad for the country because having a president weakened to such an extent when you’re at war is profoundly dangerous.

Actually, all of those things could be factors. But you know what I suspect it really was? Senate Judiciary was poised to chew her up and spit her out, and she wasn’t up to that. You could see it in Miers3 her eyes. She looked like a scared soldier willing to do her best, but wishing with all her might she had not been given this assignment. And I suspect that Mr. Bush, out of friendship and gallantry, let her off the hook.

Maybe I’m wrong. That’s quite likely. But what do you expect from stream-of-consciousness opinion writing?

8 thoughts on “So long, Harriet

  1. Nathan

    Let me add another option for your list, Brad. Perhaps Bush caved into those who thought that the Supreme Court is too important of an institution for Bush to appoint someone who has displayed little in qualifications. Sure, those voices were mostly from the right, but it is the right that has watched as the left treated the Constitution like a paint-by-numbers picture. The complaint wasn’t about abortion, it was about Constitutional knowledge. John Roberts was perfect because he was brilliant. We need another brilliant nominee with a track record of excellence, not someone who broke the glass ceiling. I don’t want the first woman to do something, I want a strong candidate who doesn’t have to rely on descriptions like “best woman” or “first woman”. Give me the smartest, best person available. Use Bernanke as your guide, President Bush.

  2. kc

    Now maybe he’ll get rid of Rummy, and start prosecuting this war the right way.
    Yes, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my – you know.
    Seriously, at this point, what would constitute “prosecuting this war the right way?”

  3. Bill

    Harriet Miers is a Lesbian
    by kennedythroat
    The reason that the Christian Right has such a problem with Harriet Miers is not because she is unqualified, which she is, but because she is a lesbian.
    Diaries :: kennedythroat’s diary :: Sat Oct 15th, 2005 at 02:38:57 PM EDT
    Harriet Miers is a 60 year old women who has never been married and has no children. This is a problem for the radical right because to be a good evangelical christian, you have to be in the sanctity of marriage and produce new christian soilders. The christian right sees anyone without a man as a lesbian and a threat because that women may be a free thinker, the worse thing any evangelical can be. If she is not a lesbian, then she is a promiscuous little slut because she is not married and sex without marriage and for pleasure is almost as bad as being a lesbian. If she is a slut then she is on birth control. As we all know, that’s abortion. Even worse she could of had an actual abortion! If she is not a lesbian or a slut then she is not using her God given “parts” to produce christian soilders. I believe that these are the real reasons that the christian right is opposed to Harriet Miers along with the fact that they no longer trust George Bush.

  4. Bill

    Harriet Miers is a Lesbian
    by kennedythroat
    The reason that the Christian Right has such a problem with Harriet Miers is not because she is unqualified, which she is, but because she is a lesbian.
    Diaries :: kennedythroat’s diary :: Sat Oct 15th, 2005 at 02:38:57 PM EDT
    Harriet Miers is a 60 year old women who has never been married and has no children. This is a problem for the radical right because to be a good evangelical christian, you have to be in the sanctity of marriage and produce new christian soilders. The christian right sees anyone without a man as a lesbian and a threat because that women may be a free thinker, the worse thing any evangelical can be. If she is not a lesbian, then she is a promiscuous little slut because she is not married and sex without marriage and for pleasure is almost as bad as being a lesbian. If she is a slut then she is on birth control. As we all know, that’s abortion. Even worse she could of had an actual abortion! If she is not a lesbian or a slut then she is not using her God given “parts” to produce christian soilders. I believe that these are the real reasons that the christian right is opposed to Harriet Miers along with the fact that they no longer trust George Bush.

  5. Lee

    The lesson that President Bush and the entire GOP need to learn is that they cannot win any elections acting like Bob Dole.
    They need to produce the radical dismantling of socialism necessary to save America:
    * judges who strictly apply the Constitution to limit government power.
    * phasing out of Social Security, Medicare, and other threats to the middle class
    * abolition of income taxes
    * sealing the borders and deportation of immigrants until we get control and set policy
    * an end to guest workers, H1-B workers, L1 workers, and foreign students

  6. Ellen

    Ole George was crazy like a fox on this one. Harriet was a well thought out distraction. She was used.
    Put forward a person very likely to be rejected. Give the politicians a couple of weeks to chew her up real fine. Admit defeat and then toss in your REAL candidate.
    Shoo-in. I mean, after this, almost any reasonably qualified candidate is going to be embraced by the Republicans. Dontcha think?
    Poor Harriet. I wonder if she knew.

  7. Lee

    Ellen is right. Harriet Miers followed the predicted scenario, just like Clinton put up two good candidates for Attorney General, then fed the press dirt to gin up a scandal, so they could breeze in Janet Reno without examination of her DUI and vice arrests.

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