Judicial Nominations

Wow...after scoring what appeared to be a home run with John Roberts, did President Bush slam a foul ball off his noggin with Harriet Miers?

The only problem I had with John Roberts was his dodging on every single question asked of him during confirmation. That was shifty. But overall, he wasn't the fire-breathing Dominionist Bush could have nominated and had a good chance of getting confirmed. (Someone like Roy "Two-Ton Ego" Moore, who is now running for governor of Alabama, and I can't wait for his campaign slogan: "Vote for me - God wants you to!" Or perhaps "A two ton monument in every yard!" Or perhaps, "Rules don't apply to me - I AM Caesar and God.") Roberts may turn out to be a Souter or a Republican version of Souter, but there was nothing really to get him on but party affiliation at the hearings.

Now comes Harriet Miers, and it has some conservatives up in arms - Bill Kristol, Michelle Malkin (who links to several other naysayers) and the people at Power Line, to name a few that have issues with Miers. (Hat tip to The Moderate Voice for those links) The reasons range from "not conservative enough" (she gave money to Al Gore's campaign back in the 80's) to cronyism.

And some Democrats aren't too happy either. Ms. Miers has never been a judge - this HAS happened before in nominations to the Supreme Court, but it gets antennae twitching when it does. It does have more than a whiff of cronyism, especially when you see this: "Harriet worships the president and has called him the smartest man she's ever known." I mean, come on! Admiring is one things, worshiping is another...and never forget, given the plethora of lawsuits aimed at the Bush people, there is a chance should she be confirmed she will be judging one of these cases. Feel secure about her neutrality?

About the only thing Bush may have done is get the religious right behind him - they seem to be hunky-dory with Ms. Miers. Maybe he's consolidating his base, since that's about all he has left. But this could be the cutting off your nose to spite your face move - if it ticks off ALL the other conservatives, what does he gain? (I also see this possibility in the Roy Moore run - could this fracture the Republicans between non-Religious Right conservatives and RR ones?)

Fun times ahead.