Some Worthy Concerns
The right's embrace in the Miers nomination of tactics previously exclusive to the left - exaggeration, invective, anonymous sources, an unbroken stream of new charges, television advertisements paid for by secret sources - will make it immeasurably harder to denounce and deflect such assaults when the Democrats make them the next time around. Given the overemphasis on admittedly ambiguous speeches Miers made more than a decade ago, conservative activists will find it difficult to take on liberals in their parallel efforts to destroy some future Robert Bork.
These are some of the valid concerns raised by Hugh Hewitt in this piece in tomorrow's New York Times -- although he takes care to point out that not all Miers critics employed these tactics.
Here's hoping Hugh isn't right; that being said, judging from some of the dialogue that emanated from Democratic senators today, there's good reason to fear that he is.
These are some of the valid concerns raised by Hugh Hewitt in this piece in tomorrow's New York Times -- although he takes care to point out that not all Miers critics employed these tactics.
Here's hoping Hugh isn't right; that being said, judging from some of the dialogue that emanated from Democratic senators today, there's good reason to fear that he is.
posted by LadybugUSA at 9:48 PM
2 Comments:
Harriet Miers deserved a better hearing than she was given.
"These [Senate] victories were attributable in large measure to the central demand made by Republican candidates, and heard and embraced by voters, that President Bush's nominees deserved an up-or-down decision on the floor of the Senate," Hugh writes, artfully evading the reason WHY nominees deserve that foor vote, which wasn't just presidential perogative, but also a consensus from those of us on the right that Bush nominees were and have been generally good in terms of their judicial philosophies.
Any nominee who didn't or doesn't clearly meet that standard represents wasted opportunity.
That many people weren't willing to give the president benefit of doubt about Ms. Miers says as much about him as about them. Cronyism and stealth should bow to principle. But there's hope, as "Human Events" says, that George W. Bush can still lead the conservative movement rather than simply answer to it.
Hewitt worries about a firestorm of criticism from the Left over the next nominee. I think that fear is groundless, because the hobby horses of the left are well-known, and a smart pick will go forward with support rather than criticism from the Right.
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