BOO!
Hey, almost forgot, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! As a really scary treat, check out the scariest of scaries… TOM DELAY! OOOH!!!! Trust me, you’ll be having nightmares for weeks. Then read Doug’s awesome post below, and then go take your kids trick or treatin’ or something for chrissakes. Sheesh, don’t you people ever look away from the computer?
Safe and Happy Halloween
K
The Nuclear Question: Are Women Chattel?
It is as incendiary as it was inevitable.
About the only people left in the country who loved George Dubya Bush — pummeled by Katrina, Fitzgerald, and Iraq (not to mention the political fallout of three-buck-a-gallon gasoline and record energy company profits) — were in the Rabid Right; and then even they turned on him after he nominated for Supreme Court his uber-crony Harriet Miers, the stealth candidate that backfired (for daring to suggest that very personal decisions are very personal matters).
Bush has his back to the wall, and there is no one more dangerous than someone who is paranoid … especially when the whole world actually is out to get him.
Undoubtedly egged-on by as yet unindicted Karl (Official A?) Rove, Bush played to his base — and the baser instincts of the country — by nominating as replacement for swing-voting, Roe-upholding Sandra Day O’Connor Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. — “Scalito” to those familiar with his Scalia-esque ideology.
The chain of events leading inexorably to the Nuclear Option has thus been set in motion.
Unlike John Roberts and Harriet Miers, whose paper trails were as short on specifics as Bush was in courage by resorting to such stealth, Judge Alito has a considerable record to review — a record that, to say the least, gives progressives pause and regressives delight.
One ruling says it all to me, not just about this particular nominee or any specific issue but also about this historic conflict overall — and make no mistake about it; we are not simply considering a litmus test or two but rather an entire direction for our country, as adjudicated from the highest court in the land for generations to come.
I focus your attention on the infamous case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In that landmark test of Roe v. Wade, the Third Circuit of the US Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision and reinstated provisions of Pennsylvania law that among other things required minors seeking abortions to receive consent from their parents or the courts, and adult women seeking abortions to wait at least 24 hours after receiving certain information before being allowed by the state to undergo the medical procedures.
All three of the justices on the Third Circuit court agreed to uphold those provisions, widely recognized as some of the most severe restrictions on a woman’s right to choose as guaranteed by Roe v. Wade.
But one judge went even further: Judge Alito agreed with another provision — deemed unconstitutional and unduly burdensome by the other two, highly conservative judges — stating that except under extraordinary circumstances, the state would not permit an adult woman to obtain an abortion unless she first informed her husband.
Which, I suppose, begs the question: does the body of a woman belong to the state or to her husband? It obviously, by Judge Alito’s ruling, does not belong to the woman herself.
Over the weekend, even Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), an opponent of abortion rights (Remind me again how he got to be our leader), cautioned President Bush not to nominate Judge Alito, a warning rebuked by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the Gang of 14, of “centrist” members of both parties, who had crafted the compromise in which the Republicans promised not to invoke the “nuclear option” — in which, most likely, Vice President (and unindicted Plame co-conspirator) Dick Cheney would violate Senate rules to change Senate rules, to end filibusters by simple majority vote — as long as the “centrist” Democrats promised to vote for cloture, to end any filibusters, on judicial nominees except under “extraordinary circumstances.”
Well, “moderate” Democrats and Republicans, upon whose judgment this judicial nomination hangs, is this not an “extraordinary circumstance”: seating for life on the Supreme Court of the United States a judge whose rulings would turn back the clock on women’s rights not only to the days of backstreet abortions but effectively to the ancient age when women were treated as mere possessions of their husbands?
There is no more “middle ground”: the moment of truth has arrived. Either we stand up for women’s rights — and all other human rights — or every last one of us will indeed be reduced to chattel.
P.S. Although the news of this nomination has displaced much of the coverage of the Plame investigation — Heaven forbid poor Ms. Miers was set up as some sort of “straw man,” to be predictably knocked down, at a very convenient moment (That would be positively Machiavellian … or Roveian) — part two of my four-part investigation into Cheney et al. is forthcoming.
It Sucks Being Right All The Time
If you’ve been keeping up with me for the past few days, than the announcement of Scalito’s nomination should come as no real grabber to you. As a small fish wannabe political analyst, I must admit a little glee at being pretty much dead on for both the nature of the nominee, and the timing of the announcement. But much of that glee is rained upon by the fact that I’m also a leftist, and Judge Alito’s nomination brings no good omens our way. None. You think we got good tidings? Think again. No good tidings for you.
BushCo just went and showed us why they are the Harlem Globetrotters of politics, and everyone else is that other really crappy team. I don’t know. Never been to an actual Globetrotters game… but I saw them when they did the guest starring bit on Scooby Doo. Oh, right, politics. See, what they did was they took everything I thought of, and went one step further. They nominated an actual threat to the bench.
What I mean to say is that Bush nominated a seriously hardcore wingnut conservative who actually does have a serious shot at confirmation. By doing this, the Democrats are now forced to engage in some way shape or form, truly taking at least a little wind out of the sails of Libbygate… Rovegate… Plamegate… whatever.
It’s brilliant, and it sucks. It sucks a lot for us because if there was anything that could help save this embattled president it was a good solid knuckle down drag out fight, and he got one. It sucks because the conservative base is charged (it didn’t take long did it?), and I guarantee you that every single little push to stop the confirmation of Alito is only going to fire those people up more. It sucks because, barring some catastrophically insane scandal, Alito has his 52 Republican senators. It sucks because the Dem’s aren’t going to fight this battle the way it ought to be fought.
And that’s where I must confess my fallibility… I don’t know how to fight it either. But I’m still gonna lay it on the line. My luck’s been good to me over the past few days, so while I’m not making any predictions, I’m going to lay down how I think this battle might be fought, and won.
1) Mobilize for a fillibuster. Don’t hem and haw over the candidate, don’t play the wait and see. His record is out there in the open. He’s blatantly conservative. This is the kind of guy you want to fillibuster, so don’t wear out the hems of your skirts, people, and just pull it together and drop this ship dead in the water.
2) Prepare for the Nuclear Option. The moment you play for the fillibuster, you will of course hear talk of the Nuclear option. Do not et the other side be the leader in this war of rhetoric. Accept that fight early, and take it head on. Make the case to the people for minority’s protection from the majority, etc.
3) Publicize your own shortlist. I’ve been trying to harp on this for sometime now, and it’s key. Part of being opposition and not obstruction is providing your own solutions and what we need to see from the Dem’s right now is a short list of very middle friendly names.
4) Expose this gambit for exactly what this is. It’s a wag the dog. To minimize the effect of Scooter Libby’s indictment, Bush has guaranteed the Hill a war. Make sure that is understood on as many kitchen tables as you can.
5) Expose the nomination for what it is. This is a blatant pander to the extreme socially conservative right in an attempt to win back the base, not an attempt to pick a unifying judge that will protect the minority with the sensibilities of representing the majority.
6) Keep this fight as short as humanly possible. I can only forsee the base getting more and more charged as time goes on. That being said, this is not the kind of bout that the left can win on endurance.
Thusly, what we need is quick, unified, and decisive action. That’s the only way to get her done.
Whatever the case, X said it best when he said, “We have ourselves a ball game.” Yes X, we do indeed have a ballgame.
The Chorus Line…
You’ll wish you had a dollar for every time you hear it…political cartoons, satire, Bush, Supreme Court
Bush To Nominate "Scalito"
At 8:00 AM EST this morning President Bush is going to name Judge Samuel “Scalito” Alito to the Supeme Court.
Obama, Kaine, and The Worst Political Pun EVER!
So what if Goose got a chance to hob nob for twenty seconds with the good Dr. Dean? Dean Schmean, I’m just now getting home from watching one of the brightest stars in the Democratic Party speak, and I gotta tell ya, Ill. Senator Barak Obama is every single bit the political rock star you have heard about.
That and more.
Sen. Obama dropped down to visit our humble Virginia to speak at a little rally on behalf of Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Tim Kaine. And after listening to Att. Gen. candidate Creigh Deeds speak for a few minutes, it was blatantly obvious who everyone was waiting to hear. Not the candidate who’s name was plastered all over the high school gymnasium in which we sat, but the brilliant young black Senator who had enchanted so many last year as a keynote speaker of the Democratic National Convention.
This fact was made even more obvious after the announcement was made that the would be governor and the senator had entered the building. As the names to state Democratic candidates were announced, each was obviously cheered in kind, but it was Obama’s name that inspired people to get to their feet (those who weren’t already standing out of necessity). The house was stacked, packed, and stoked to see the Senator (getting the impression that I’m talking up Barak a little?).
And it’s true, when the man got on the mic, he was masterful. Handsome and intelligent he worked the crowd with a wondrous rhythm. He recounted memories of a younger Barak Obama working the streets of Chicago as he pushed for a state senate seat. How the most common question was “where did you get a name like that?” Which received quite a few titters of laughter. The second most common question being “with all you have accomplished, why politics?”
And it was this second question that truly set the mood for the rest of the rally. It should be said here and now that this rally was in no way shape or form even slightly about the smear. As bad as I wanted to run up to the senator and ask, “Mr. Obama, five indictments on Scooter Libby, an embarassing failure of a SCOTUS nominee, and record low presidential approval ratings, what are your thoughts?”, by the time the event had finished, I had gotten the distinct feeling that to do so would be to mar the mood.
But Barak was masterful. At the beginning of the oration he paused for each spot of applause, but as the tempo built into a crescendo, he merely talked over the applause, conducting it instead of just letting it take place. Politically brilliant is the fact that here in part of the Bible belt, you have two very religious politicians who both spent time doing missionary work, and they both used it much to their advantage. I say this now because it was not long into Obama’s speech before it felt exactly like a fiery sermon, only instead of random shouts of “Amen!,” one heard random shouts of, “Obama for President!”
All in all, I fully well expected Obama to fully upstage Tim Kaine. At least in the opening applause he did, but imagine my shock (I had never actually heard Tim Kaine speak live before) when I found Tim Kaine to be equally masterful with the crowd.
Senator Obama standing behind him with that perpetually pensive look on his face, Kaine played the crowd with humility and humor (in coming up with three similarities between he and Obama, Kaine eventually had to fall back on the fact that, “both our mothers are from Kansas.”), but it wasn’t long before he retook the theme of a positive campaign to great effect.
The climax to this theme was the recounting of the single debate in this years Governor race. The precedent has been, up until now, two debates, but according to Kaine, this time around Kilgore would only agree to one… on a Sunday evening… during NASCAR… and MLB playoffs… and the NFL. At the end of this debate, Kaine said the moderator had tossed a trick question at the two candidates right at the end:
“Everyone knows better than to expect a purely clean campaign, but can you look 7.5 million Virginians in the eye, and tell them that from here on out, at least 50% of your campaign will be positive?”
There was a bit of a pause, those who watched the debate (like my friend Christina who was sitting next to me) giggled madly… particularly at those who obviously hadn’t (we were sitting at the edge of our seats). The tension built as Kaine continued to remark how tricky this question was… how big of a surprise, and then…
“It was also the easiest question I’ve had all night!” The gym exploded as Kaine launched into what I felt was a particularly awesome stump speech. “Of course my campaign’s gonna be positive because I’ve got a good news story to tell.”
And he does have a goodnews story to tell. As the Lt. Gov. under Mark Warner, Tim Kaine has seen first hand a huge turn around in Virginia, watching the commonwealth go from one of the worst managed states in the union to the best. Tim Kaine helped Mark Warner push Va. from junk bonds to a AAA bond rating on Wall Street. I mean, Mark Warner hasn’t just served one term as Va.’s governor, but just one term in ELECTED OFFICE completely. And yet, after only four years of elected office, he’s a serious contendor for 08.
So yeah, Tim Kaine did have a good news story to tell Virginia, and he reiterated it to us with zeal. Finally, after touting the many economic, social, and educational reforms he and Warner have made, he finished out the story of that debate.
The moderator looked over at Kilgore, directing the same question. Beads of sweat formed as he flustered for a little bit. See, Kilgore went negative early, and virtually every tv spot from his camp has been negative, and so he went to defending his ads, saying how he stands behind them. Then, believe it or not, he actually started to attack Kaine (apparently he had been doing this all night) and so finally, the moderator cut in and said, “I’ll take that as a no”.
Again, at the conclusion of the story, the entire gymnasium went wild.
Now I really don’t have all that much power in the political sphere, but I really want people too look at this campaign. As I’ve said before, I truly think this is one of the most important races you will see this year, and even next year. I’m obviously not alone since one of the Democratic Party’s brightest stars made a trip out here to deliver a twenty minute speech on a Sunday afternoon. So the stakes are high, higher than I think most the people in that gym even knew.
But it was also about the attitude. Sure, Kilgore got a little bit of ribbing based on his performence at the debates. but that was the only Kilgore ribbing, or GOP ribbing at all. Despite a relentless tv campaign from the opposition, the only time Kaine ever seems to even recognize that he has an opponent is to try and shake him off of the attack.
Aside from that Lt. Gov. Kaine really does have a good news story to tell, and I truly hope the people of Virginia have the sense to vote for that good news story to continue.
***
On the way out, I’m sitting in my friend Christina’s passenger seat. She just got a brand new mustang, and has been eager to show it off at every opportunity. Considering my truck gets ten miles to the gallon, I was more than happy to ride on her gas bill for at least the rest of the afternoon.
Traffic moving out of the parking lot was horrible, an actual campaign point for Kaine as traffic in Virginia as a whole is ridiculous. As we crept along we of course talked of this and that. I had quipped that, “Kilgore is here now filming this traffic for his next tv spot: ‘These Democrats can’t even get out of a parking lot, how can we expect them to run our state?’” I’m a very funny man, so she laughed. Unfortunately what would follow later will undoubtedly be dubbed “the worst political pun ever!”
As we are waiting for the traffic to clear, Christina gets a call from the other duo that went to the rally with us. She chatted with them for a short while about the traffic and then, out of nowhere, and without warning, she said this: “it looks like everyone up ahead is turning right… which is bad for the Democratic Party’s future.”
Yes she said it, I was there, and I’m not proud. I tried to do the honorable thing and talk her into ritual suicide but to no avail.
***
All joking beside, Sen. Obama was right in saying that “we are all connected.” And I can’t state vehemently enough just how vital this race is, not just in protecting the progress made in the commonwealth of Virginia, but in the national political sphere as well. Virginia can be our foothold in the South, the chink in the GOP’s electorate armor. But with that said, Kaine is still only just squeezing ahead of Kilgore and even then only within the margin of error. So please, partake in the same kind of insight that Sen. Obama and myself share, and click on the link above to see what you can do to help Kaine continue the progress of the slow fight to win back the South.
Thanks.
It’s All Spin From Here In
Well, with both of the other…er… shoes dropped (that makes sense, trust me), it’ll be a matter of time before any of us can truly appreciate the political impact of both Miers’ horribly failed nomination, and the indictment of Cheney’s chief of staff, Scooter Libby. But I’ll give you this one you can bank on, it’s all about the spin from here on in.
First, don’t be fooled by anyone on the right, the White House is most assuredly damaged by both. Despite the offhandish way in which some righty bloggers and columnists may appear to be treating the indictments, daily reports of really nervous House staffers weren’t getting shoved into the papers for nothing. Top that with the 80% public perception that something really does stink in the Plame Affair, and it doesn’t take a political genius to know that the Bush Administration is getting absolutely nailed.
So why, I ask myself, do I go on righty blogs and not see said righties all a dither? It’s all about the spin of course. Now I would never be so harsh as to make you go read them yourself, so I, being the kind hearted soul that I am, actually went out and…gulp…read some right wing blogs for you so you can see what I’m talking about. I know, I know. Mother Teresa’s kindness pales before my own.
Already buried way down on the main page, Michelle Malkin’s coverage is almost sterile. The only three notable things are:
-Buried quickly.
-Highlights that Libby DIDN’T out Plame.
-Does show respect for the laws he is accused of breaking.
Moving on we hit the excessively camera hungry Atlas who provides us with a slightly more vibrant example of at least part of the spin. Just read this last little bit:
Of course doing the exact same thing.
Finally, just for a little bit of a chuckle, I didn’t know that there were still right wing bloggers mature enough to, when all else fails, put it on Clinton.
So step by step, here’s how we begin to see the damage control work.
Because Fitzy is, by all accounts, a total professional that even earned praise from the President a few weeks ago, he’s remained untouched, but…
Joe Wilson has already become to some degree the aim of criticism.
Expect a huge attack on the indictments, as far as minimalizing. You’re either going to hear Michelle Malkin’s version where the country gets praised for upholding it’s laws but really this is small potatoes, or you’re going to hear the Atlas Shrugged version which is that this is all crap. Because, after all, lying in courts not that big a deal really.
Now the White House is cut a HUGE break because this news breaks on a friday afternoon, allowing the political strategists involved the weekend to collect themselves during the lag in the normal news cycle. The administration has relied heavily upon the short memories of it’s voters (third debate: “I don’t believe I ever said that” re: OBL. How many times has the justification for the Iraq War changed and Kerry was the flip flopper?), and you can expect them to take advantage again on Monday.
While constituents continue with to spin damage control by playing down the significance of the indictments and playing up the idea that Plame was not “outed”, BushCo is going to come back to work on Monday ready to focus on anything other than Libby’s indictments. And yeah, you guessed it, that means nominations.
As Sen. Frist alluded to on Thursday, Bush would have the next name for the hat in the “very near future.” To make such an announcement yesterday would have been very folly for two reasons. On one hand it would give the appearance that you expected Miers’ nomination to fail, something that the tough talking hard liner cowboy would never expect (wink), and on the other hand, it would just appear too wag the doggish.
Kind of like if we had a major terrorist alert pop up right now. Pushing the coincidence envelope just a little too far.
But Monday morning is good, and I would not be surprised if the announcement is made any time between Monday morning, and Tuesday afternoon.
Yes kids, Fitzmas is all about the spin, and if I were to give my own opinion on the matter, the right’s winning the spin game twenty four hours out from the announcement of the indictments.
But that doesn’t mean that things have to remain that way. There is a simple list that the left wing punditry can follow in counteracting the right wing spin machine.
-Introduce Scooter Libby to the public. Seriously, Joe and Jane sixpack don’t know who this guy is, as evidenced by the little subheading posted at the bottom of the screen during ABC’s “Today” today (”Who is Scooter Libby”). In order for this thing to have a maximum impact, people need to know who this cat is, and where he fits in in the greater scheme of things.
-Convict him in the court of public opinion. Hey, they did it to Clinton. Never said I was nice, or even played as such. As I’ve told Xranger, and I’m sure he agrees, it doesn’t matter if you are guilty. All that really counts is how many people think you are.
-Do not let proponents of the administration minimize the charge. Technicality? All he did was tell a little white lie? Put it in perspective, Libby could get put away for 30 years. That’s no slap on the wrist.
-Draw the connections. Libby, indicted. Delay, indicted. Rove, under investigation. Frist, under investigation. Need I say more.
And finally, every lefty piece about this needs to end in “…that resulted in the US getting lied into war.” (see that was me ending the piece with “…that resulted in the US getting lied into war.”)
CFLF Hits 50,000 Readers
I am not one for milestones but this one could not be ignored. After establishing this blog in August 2003 it sat unused for nearly 8 months until I finally decided to spare my friends and family the pain of multiple daily political tirade emails. On April 5, 2004 CFLF became a political blog and permanently replaced those emails with this little post. Now, one year and six months later we have hit our 50,000th visitor!
At the time I never would have imagined this to turn into what it has become. In any event, I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that has contributed here; Mr. M, Artie See, Doug Drenkow, llindat, ZenComix and Banobo as well as all of you that read and comment on a regular basis, without all of you this place would frankly be a bore. I would also like to say that if the Comcast visitor from Ellicott City, MD ever returns please drop me a note and I will send you out a free bumper sticker. Thanks again everyone and here’s to 50,000 more!
Libby Indicted On Five Counts
Cheney Adviser Indicted in CIA Leak Probe
The text of the indictment is here in PDF form, U.S. v. Libby.
(For everyone landing here looking
for a picture of Libby. Courtesy
of Pablo Monsivais - AP)
—-
Word is in that Libby tendered his resignation this morning.
—-
“We are not quite done.” - Patrick J. Fitzgerald
—-
As promised, here are the transcripts of the Fitzgerald press conference courtesy of The New York Times. Knowing the Times they will make this inaccessible by some time tomorrow so if anyone else knows a site hosting these transcripts please drop me a note in the comments section.
Political Capital
political cartoons, satire, Bush, White House
Bad Actors
As we all await the 2 PM EST press conference by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald I thought I would take this time to comment on something I noticed yesterday. As everyone now knows, the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers was derailed by none other than the President’s most staunch supporters. This came as no surprise to anyone that was paying attention since it was fairly clear that no matter what reasoning Bush put forward for her nomination Republicans were not buying it.
So as soon as the announcement was made that Miers had withdrawn herself from the process the media parade began. Now don’t mistake what I am about to say for naivete but after watching surrogates from both the left and the right come out with their little soliloquies I was struck by one glaring fact. The entire process is nothing more than a really bad low budget play. I mean come on, watching Sen. Ted Kennedy (D), MA stand there nearly in tears expressing his “disappointment” that Miers had not been given the opportunity of a senate hearing was so disingenous as to make me nearly puke. I had to choke back that same puke as I watched Sen. Sam Brownback (R), KS try to paint Miers as a patriot for protecting Executive Priviledge. Come on people, can’t anyway just speak the truth without relying on the freakin’ talking points? No wonder people despise politics in this country.
At Least One Shoe Dropped
Hill Hawks such as myself have been watching with excruciating anticipation as two major political stories hung in the air refusing to break. One is the Fitzgerald case which is expected to hopefully, maybe, possibly break tomorrow, and of course the Miers nomination. As Goose caught earlier today, that second shoe did drop with the announcement that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination.
And it’s about time.
The confirmation process up to this point has been tortuously painful, even for the serious critics of the admission. If it were at all possible, even I might have found it within me to dig up at least a little pity, but since I have none, we’re just going to have to move on.
The fact that Miers pulled herself as a means of ending this catastrophe should come as no shock to anyone. There is no way that this administration could afford the blow that would have been struck had she gotten blasted in committee, and if Bush were to withdraw her nomination, it would undermine his political image of someone who is of strong resolve that sticks to his guns. And let’s face it, the way things have been going for him lately, that’s about all he has left.
So the confirmation had to end, and this was the best way to do it. With me so far? Good.
In trying to look at what happened, and what’s going to happen, in my mind you have two basic scenarios. In the first, Miers is nominated because with Bush’s low approval numbers, his only chance of getting a conservative judge on the court was to pick one with absolutely no record, and to hope that the right goes in on the deal based on a wink and a nod. This is my take on the situation.
Another interesting take expressed to me by a friend of mine is that Harriet Miers was never intended to be confirmed. Instead she was a political decoy that would allow him to play the gender/minority card, let it get trumped, and throw in someone he really wants on that bench.
The major flaw in this way of thinking is that there is no way you can pull such a stunt without knowing what kind of political damage you are going to suffer. Okay, maybe the uproar from the religious right types may have come as a shock, but the constituency that is pulling for true strict constructionism, and not just in the context of getting rid of Roe v. Wade, would obviously be taken aback as you are now putting in someone who has not been proven in any way shape or form. And of course, you may as well forget support from most Democrats (friggin’ Harry Reid… come on man). So you are putting up there someone who has prospective support from one demographic? I find it hard to believe that the political arm of this administration didn’t understand that risk, and still think that they could come through with enough political capital to push forward a more blatant conservative judge.
Which brings us back to my opinion, which I think is the right one. Of course I think it’s the right one, that’s why I have MY opinions instead of just borrowing someone elses.
I truly think that Bush thought he could slide Miers in based on a little nudge-nudge wink-wink. Unfortunately, that’s just not gonna cut it anymore. Mainstream Republicans are going to of course not be so willing to fall in step now that their own jobs are on the line and W doesn’t guarantee the same kind of job security he used to. As for the social conservatives, well, after giving Bush two terms, they’ve probably gotten a lot less than they thought they would on hot button issues, and they think it’s time for a little recompense.
What does all this mean? That BushCo is now wedged in a very uncomfortable place. From the left side of the Hill, I think it is safe to say that the standard for fillibuster just got lowered considerably. At the same time, Bush’s base is, frankly, pissed off and fed up.
So let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first. Bush will not nominate a liberal judge. Won’t happen, he’s got nothing to gain by it.
Also, we can expect the next nominee to be infinitely more qualified than Miers. While it’s not unprecedented to put someone on the bench with no prior judicial experience, Miers’ lack of confirmation itself serves as a warning. After all, one of her big minuses was the fact that she had no experience.
Not quite as much a no brainer, but still not a big venture in the realm of risky predictions, I think it’s safe to say that the next nominee will be pretty far removed from the current administration. Much like his pick to replace Greenspan, Bush is going to try and dodge some of the accusations of cronyism by picking someone without close ties to the white house or the Bush family.
After here it gets a little trickier because the last thing to really look at is does Bush go moderate, like Roberts, or does he push conservative. There is a valid argument for both, and it’s the difference between an easy quick fix, or a difficult long term solution.
In the case of a potential moderate, Bush could look forward to a little political relief from a relatively easy confirmation process. But at the same time, he risks further alienating his socially conservative base. This would serve to get him out of the hot water he is in now, sure, but the socially conservative political foundation upon which he has relied would be further eroded.
If he were to nominate a conservative, however, he could possibly win back his base, or at least start to, but only at the expense of another difficult confirmation process, and a possible filibuster leading to a third nomination. In effect, he would at least be trying to pull out of the tailspin he is currently in, but risks a crash and burn in the attempt.
Personally, I think he is going to try and win back his base. There is only one year of his term is down, and that’s a long way to go without having anyone behind you. Plus, if this next one is a failure, he can still try and recover at least a little bit of his dignity by going for the moderate. But in the end, he needs to start working on getting his political capital back, and the only way to do that is by going to the people that gave it to you in the first place.
Aside from the current nomination, I’m not a close watcher of the federal court system, so here is where I go to you all for help. By my criteria, I think we can render a pretty short list of possible future nominees:
-Federal court experience.
-Distanced from the current administration.
-Proven moderate or conservative.
-Prestigious law school background.
-Possible minority/female.
Leave your candidates in the comments.
President Kerry
…How does your Rose Garden grow?
With Death Bell Knells
and Rebel yells?
I was off by one day in the Miers Nomination Dead Pool…political cartoons, satire, Bush, Plame, White House, Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Cheney
If You Can’t Take The Heat…
Get out of the kitchen…Miers Withdraws Under Mounting Criticism.
Pappa’s Got Some Brand New Schwag
For some odd reason there is an overabundance of “W - The President” bumper stickers in the Pittsburgh area and every time I see one I think of ways to mock it. Well, while pondering the President’s plummeting approval ratings on a recent flight I had a great idea for a new sticker, “W - 38 Percent and dropping.” Do you like it? If so, it is available for purchase in the Comments From Left Field Store by clicking the image above or any of the links in this post.
I’m Rich, I’m Rich, I’m A Wealthy Meiser
My blog is worth $114,601.62.
How much is your blog worth?
