Outside the Beltway

Bloggers Taking a Stand on Miers

James Joyner
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N.Z. Bear is calling on bloggers to take a stand on the Harriet Miers nomination.

As regular readers will have gathered, I oppose the Miers nomination. My reasons are stated in great detail in a variety of posts, listed below. The short version is simple: Despite being substantially older than most recent nominees to the High Court, she has not produced a distinguished body of legal writing that would inspire sufficient confidence in her to merit a lifetime appointment as 1/9 of what amounts to our nation’s sitting constitutional convention.

I’ve been wrong before, thinking much the same thing about Clarence Thomas when he was appointed. I am still willing to be persuaded and her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee might wow me enough to believe this was a good appointment. But I can only base my judgment right now on what we’ve seen so far, which is far from impressive.

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Update: Bear’s tracking page.

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7 responses to “Bloggers Taking a Stand on Miers”

  1. ken Avatar
    ken

    That someone so utterly incompetent as Miers was chosen by Bush as his personal attorney and one of his closest confidants is no surprise. He has a history of surrounding himself with people less intellegent than himself (no easy feat) and perfectly loyal so as to never be challenged.

    It is like his manhood or something is at issue with this guy.

    I wonder if he can accept her pulling out. She certainly will not do it without his approval as that would humiliate Bush more than Miers.

  2. James Joyner Avatar
    James Joyner

    Almost without exception, Bush’s top aides are highly intelligent. Cheney, Powell, Rice, Rumsfeld, Rove, etc. are accused of many things; lack of intellect is not among them, however. Even Miers is certainly quite bright; she’s an attorney and former president of the Bar Association on one of the most populous states in the Union.

    I don’t dispute that he prefers people he personally trusts or that he sometimes places more weight on that than other important factors. I think he did so in this case. But, with the exception of a few Mike Browns here and there (usually in positions without day-to-day contact with the president) he’s not appointing dummies.

  3. ken Avatar
    ken

    “On the one hand, there is no question from private remarks and public grimaces, some reaching back to early 2001, neither Powell nor Armitage had or has much trust or respect for Rice, and they share with other senior Republican wisemen the conviction that Rumsfeld is quite literally mad, and Cheney a dangerous, vindictive monomaniac.”

    The above quote is from someone who knows.

    Then there is the matter of Douglas Fieth, once called the ‘stupidest mother f…cker alive, by Tommy Franks.

    Now we have Miers and Brown, both too dumb to know when they have exceeded their level of competence.

    And let’s not forget Rove, Libby and the others too dumb to realize that outing a CIA officer for the sake of political retribution is off limits in America.

    And you think these people are smart?

  4. McGehee Avatar
    McGehee

    Well, my prediction from the previous thread is borne out. Ken is truly an expert on everything he isn’t — in this case, intelligent people.

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