Harrient Miers - Pro or Con

[Teejay32]

I could swear I posted something earlier, but it's not here....oh well.

I look at things a bit differently. When two opposing sides see the same problem and react in the same way, stand back and take a second look at what's causing it.

Or, to use another cliche: "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Two opposing sides of the political establishment see the same thing, which are both hemorrhaging membership and redlining people's tolerance levels for pretty much the same reasons. Makes sense to me; I'm fine with it.

sodaseller: oh there's anger out there, evidenced from when you first go looking for info on Miers and find things like, why this intellectual lightweight from SMU after Roberts from Harvard Law, and end up on this thread with one solid call for impeachment over this. (Through Google I came across a well done spoof site for Miers on blogspot.) I haven't done much looking but seems to me it extends well beyond the right wingnuts.

 

[MizBlu]

This is the best you can come up with for "gross incompetence, negligence and dereliction of duty? Scraping the bottom of the partisanship barrel for these examples? I am sure President Bush could have single-handedly stopped a cat 5 hurricane and just like the little Dutch boy, he could have stuck his finger in the levees and stopped the flooding. As a now infamous Dis-er used to say, you can't make this stuff up! Thanks for the compliment, but what seems obvious to you is not so clear to me. Sorry to burst your bubble about my intelligence, but as I tell people at work, it's all smoke and mirrors anyway! I agree that this nomination is bizarre. But overall I believe in many areas he is doing a good job, just as I believe President Clinton did an overall good job. I know that President Bush does not steer the ship of state alone. If he gets 1 or 2 more nominations, I hope that he and his team can find someone who is actually qualified to serve on SCOTUS. As they say, hope springs eternal. You got that right!

You see all of the aforementioned as isolated incidents and honest mistakes. I see them as a large pattern of gross incompetence and not being able to grasp the depth and responsibilities of the office of president.

Case in point: people laughed at the video of Bush searching for WMD's under the chairs in the WH and failed to grasp the unseemliness of that video while soldiers were dying in the field in pursuit of those WMD's.

Isolated incident. honest mistake, or just plain unable to grasp what he was doing?

Fast forward a year or two late to what transpired over Katrina. Same inability to grasp the seriousness of the situation. It was no longer an isolated incident.

Fast forward to this last week. Bush is peddling Harriet Miers' evangelical faith as one of major reasons he chose her to nominate her. Makes you stand back and go..............hmmmm.

What was a major piss-off to me (Bush as president) is now turning into fear and an unease of the future. I don't trust to have Bush with his finger on the nuclear button.

And again, bringing it all back to Harriet Miers, this is just the latest episode.

 

[MizBlu]

Are you serious? He should be impeached because he went to a birthday party and played pretend guitar? Talk about bizarre.

Get serious! It's not the birthday cake or the guitar playing. It's what was happening while he was doing it. Why can't you seem to grasp this?

Hey, if you're happy with Bush, God bless you and thank God most of America is now seeing these incidents for exactly what they were: dereliction of duty, gross incompetence, and the inability to grasp the seriousness of what is happening around him.

And, then we get to the Harriet Miers nomination.

 

[missypie]

I do feel obliged to defend my law school. SMU has turned out lots of brilliant lawyers. For Texas natives, if you think you want to practice in DC or New York, then you go to Harvard or Stanford or maybe UVA. However, if you think you want to stay in state, SMU and UT are seen as good choices.

 

[MizBlu]

Ah, but they don't see the same problem. The right want proof that she is either sufficiently conservative or sufficiently constructionist. The left see her as an incompetent proving the incompetence they've been telling us about all along. Really very different things.

No, it is the same problem and that problem is Harriet Miers and her being nominated for a job she is not qualified for. That's the constant.

 

[jrydberg]

Get serious! It's not the birthday cake or the guitar playing. It's what was happening while he was doing it. Why can't you seem to grasp this?

Hey, if you're happy with Bush, God bless you and thank God most of America is now seeing these incidents for exactly what they were: dereliction of duty, gross incompetence, and the inability to grasp the seriousness of what is happening around him.

And, then we get to the Harriet Miers nomination.

I'm VERY serious. I'm not happy with Bush. But calling for impeachment because you think he should've been doing something else while a hurricane was approaching is VERY bizarre.

I grasp exactly what you're saying. It just doesn't have any logic to it.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I read what you listed as examples of actions that allegedly warrent impeachment. If you are serious about this, then you should contact your elected Representative in the House and request that they introduce articles of impeachment immediately. I doubt the request will be honored and if by some remote possibility it was honored, there is no grounds beyond simple partisanship for the articles to be passed by the Judiciary Committee or approved by the entire House.

What you are issuing a call for is an exercise in futility and has no foundation in either law or reality. Has all the hatred and rancor over politics brought us to this point? I would find it hard to believe someone would jest about impeachment, but what you are proposing goes beyond absurd.

The nomination of Ms. Miers is rather odd, but it is nowhere near an impeachable offense. You've got to do a lot more than that to make this argument remotely believable. And if this is a comedy routine, don't give up your day job yet.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Get serious! It's not the birthday cake or the guitar playing. It's what was happening while he was doing it. Why can't you seem to grasp this?

Hey, if you're happy with Bush, God bless you and thank God most of America is now seeing these incidents for exactly what they were: dereliction of duty, gross incompetence, and the inability to grasp the seriousness of what is happening around him.

And, then we get to the Harriet Miers nomination.

I understand your logic and embrace your extreme disappointment with the direction that our country has taken under President Bush, but if he wasn't impeached for fixing and cherry picking intellegence in the rush to war in Iraq, there is no way in the world he would be impeached for the Katrina fiasco, and yes, he screwed up royally with his choice for FEMA director.

IMO, the whole idea of both parties impeaching each other, back and forth is ugly and extremely petty. It does nothing to help the country move forward and takes the Dems eyes off of the prize, mainly the fight to take back Congress in 2006, and the White House in 2008. I lost an infinite amount of respect for Congress during the Clinton impeachment and I'd prefer to take the high road and end the circus now!

 

[sodaseller]

I could swear I posted something earlier, but it's not here....oh well.



Two opposing sides of the political establishment see the same thing, which are both hemorrhaging membership and redlining people's tolerance levels for pretty much the same reasons. Makes sense to me; I'm fine with it.

sodaseller: oh there's anger out there, evidenced from when you first go looking for info on Miers and find things like, why this intellectual lightweight from SMU after Roberts from Harvard Law, and end up on this thread with one solid call for impeachment over this. (Through Google I came across a well done spoof site for Miers on blogspot.) I haven't done much looking but seems to me it extends well beyond the right wingnuts.

Certainly she is not who we would have selected, but there is no significant opposition to Meyers from the Left. The closest I have seen is Kevin Drum at Link But that rather proves my point. If you are taking pains to provide the Left with reasons to oppose her, then by definition they are not at that point now. And Drum goes on to ultimately reccomend "sitting this one out." Handly an opposition. Certainly we will mock her pseudo sexual sycophancy (I like the way that sounds) towards what we see as a deeply flawed and narcissistic individual, but that's not the same as opposing her nomination.

As for opposition from elite legal circles, the ABA has published an article - Link subheaded "Colleagues Cite Her Work Ethic, Integrity and Discretion". Hardly a hack piece, It also recounts opposition from the right and her prior appointment in 2001 to head the ABA's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, the "body that evaluates nominees for the federal district and circuit courts as well as the Supreme Court." Again, we should all be so lucky to face "opposition" like that.

No, in this case, the opposition is coming from one direction, and it isn't the Left or elite legal circles. I doubt you will find an individual more sensitive to legal Ivy snobbery than myself, as it is a pet cause. Hasn't happened here

 

[sodaseller]

I do feel obliged to defend my law school. SMU has turned out lots of brilliant lawyers. For Texas natives, if you think you want to practice in DC or New York, then you go to Harvard or Stanford or maybe UVA. However, if you think you want to stay in state, SMU and UT are seen as good choices.

I hear ya. I am surrounded by Harvard and Yale types, who have deigned to practice with this lowly UF grad. The right pedigree is definitely required to gain the respect of legal minds in other cities, but anyone actually out there in the trenches appreciates how weak the correlation is, and how many find minds matriculate elsewhere.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

Certainly she is not who we would have selected, but there is no significant opposition to Meyers from the Left. The closest I have seen is Kevin Drum at Link But that rather proves my point,. If you are taking pains to provide the Left with reasons too oppose her, then by definition they are not athat point now. And Drum gpes onl to ultimately reccomend "sitting this one out." Handly an opposition. Certainly we will mock her pseudo sexual sycophancy (I like the way that sounds) towards what we see as a deeply flawed and narcissistic individual, but that's not the same as opposing her nomination.

As for opposition from elite legal circles, the ABA has published an article - Link subheaded "Colleagues Cite Her Work Ethic, Integrity and Discretion". Hardly a hack piece, It also recounts opposition from the right and her prior appointment in 2001 to head the ABA's Standing Committee on Federal Judiciary, the "body that evaluates nominees for the federal district and circuit courts as well as the Supreme Court." Again, we should all be so lucky to face "opposition" like that.

No, in this case, the opposition is coming from one direction, and it isn't the Left or elite legal circles. I doubt you will find an individual more sensitive to legal Ivy snobbery than myself, as it is a pet cause. Hasn't happened here

Great point...I have no idea where Teejay's gleaning her insight into the hearts and minds of the Progressive movement, but I certainly haven't seen any proof of it, if it truly exists.

Maybe it makes Conservatives feel better to imagine that the left must hate Bush's nominee if they do...I just don't get it...

 

[Teejay32]

Handly an opposition. Certainly we will mock her pseudo sexual sycophancy (I like the way that sounds) towards what we see as a deeply flawed and narcissistic individual, but that's not teh same as opposing her nomination.
<snip>
No, in this case, the opposition is coming from one direction, and it isn't the Left or elite legal circles. I doubt you will find an individual more sensitive to legal Ivy snobbery than myself, as it is a pet cause. Hasn't happened here

::drums fingernails on table::

I'll just strike snobbery from the list, with apologies, and call it a day.

 

[MizBlu]

I read what you listed as examples of actions that allegedly warrent impeachment. If you are serious about this, then you should contact your elected Representative in the House and request that they introduce articles of impeachment immediately. I doubt the request will be honored and if by some remote possibility it was honored, there is no grounds beyond simple partisanship for the articles to be passed by the Judiciary Committee or approved by the entire House.

What you are issuing a call for is an exercise in futility and has no foundation in either law or reality. Has all the hatred and rancor over politics brought us to this point? I would find it hard to believe someone would jest about impeachment, but what you are proposing goes beyond absurd.

The nomination of Ms. Miers is rather odd, but it is nowhere near an impeachable offense. You've got to do a lot more than that to make this argument remotely believable. And if this is a comedy routine, don't give up your day job yet.

I'll seat you at the "don't get it table" along with Jrydberg, TeeJay, and Galahad. We'll have a pleasant meal and then we can all meet in the bar for a free-for-all. See you there.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

I'll seat you at the "don't get it table" along with Jrydberg, TeeJay, and Galahad. We'll have a pleasant meal and then we can all meet in the bar for a free-for-all. See you there.

I am honored to be placed in such distinguished company! I feel like I've finally "arrived."

Um, is the free-for-all in the bar a cash event or will you pick up the tab?

 

[MizBlu]

I am honored to be placed in such distinguished company! I feel like I've finally "arrived."

Um, is the free-for-all in the bar a cash event or will you pick up the tab?

I'll buy the first round.

 

[Tigger_Magic]

This is going to get some on the right tied up into knots. I predict that President Bush's nomination is going to be "Bork-ed" -- by his own party.

 

[MizBlu]

This is going to get some on the right tied up into knots. I predict that President Bush's nomination is going to be "Bork-ed" -- by his own party.

Harriet Miers is going to get "Bushwacked" first. Someone in the Bush organization is going to ask her to fall on her sword and withdraw her nomination for "personal reasons".

 

[Teejay32]

Nice of you to say, Tigger_Magic, but the free-for-all would start right at the table: Krispy Kreme vs. Dunkin Donuts. Fair warning.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

This is going to get some on the right tied up into knots. I predict that President Bush's nomination is going to be "Bork-ed" -- by his own party.

With the nomination of "moderate" John Roberts, all we heard from the right was that throughout history, the President is typically given a free pass to choose anyone to his liking, so the libs should keep their yaps shut and OK the nomination. Now that the Conservatives have someone that they don't like, the far right is angry at the President and shouting "Fire!" in the proverbial crowded theater! I guess Bush is a uniter, and not a divider! I love it!!

Wonder how long it will take the Swift Boaters to peer out from under their rocks and start lesbian rumors about Ms. Miers...I mean, she's single, no visable love interest, is in her 60's and loves softball!! What...the rumors have already started?!?! My bad!!

 

[Tigger_Magic]

Nice of you to say, Tigger_Magic, but the free-for-all would start right at the table: Krispy Kreme vs. Dunkin Donuts. Fair warning.

I'm on the KK side!