Posted on 10/16/2005 12:16:29 PM PDT by Hunden
Washington — Long regarded as President George W Bush's greatest and most untouchable political asset, Laura Bush has finally been dragged into the chaos embroiling her husband's administration.
The First Lady played a key role in his controversial decision to nominate Harriet Miers, a close family friend who she first met at university in Texas, as a Supreme Court judge, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. That decision has sparked the most serious crisis of Mr Bush's almost five years in office.
Mrs Bush personally backed Ms Miers for the vacancy on the country's highest court after lobbying publicly for a woman to replace the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor. She then angered conservative critics of the nomination by telling a television interviewer that sexism was probably behind their opposition to the choice.
Although Mrs Bush has sought less of the limelight than other First Ladies — most notably Hillary Clinton — it was not the first time that she has been drafted in to help her husband as he faced political difficulties. Most recently, she helped in a damage limitation campaign in the fall-out over Hurricane Katrina. But the First Lady's normally impeccable political instincts seemed to desert her when she appeared last week alongside her husband on America's most popular morning television show.
"Sending Laura Bush out to make her first mistake as First Lady, agreeing… that sexism is probably part of the reason for opposition to Ms Miers, was embarrassingly inept and only served to dim some of the power of this extraordinary resource,"
said Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan.
Mrs Bush's role in the selection process has raised questions about her influence within the President's small inner circle of trusted, mostly Texan, advisers.
The firestorm set off by the nomination is tearing the Republicans apart at a time when a series of other scandals and setbacks have hit the administration.
Mr Bush appears to be missing the advice of Karl Rove, his closest political aide, who is badly distracted by a grand jury investigation into the disclosure of a CIA operative's name. Mr Rove's lawyers said on Friday that they were no longer confident that he would not be indicted. The actions of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, are also under investigation.
Mrs Bush, 58, and Ms Miers, 60, first met as students at the Southern Methodist University in Dallas in the mid-1960s.
Ms Miers was a year ahead of the then Laura Welch, who took a degree in education studies, and they became good friends 20 years later after Ms Miers was made Mr Bush's personal lawyer in Texas. Gushing letters and notes released last week from Ms Miers to the Bushes show how close they became.
Ms Miers followed Mr Bush to the White House in 2001, serving first as his devoted staff secretary and then White House counsel. She often dined with the Bushes in their private quarters, including the Sunday evening before the President announced her nomination. Mrs Bush first laid down her marker on a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice O'Connor in the summer when she told a television interviewer that she would like a woman to be picked.
That fell on deaf ears as her husband chose John Roberts. But when Chief Justice William Rehnquist died in September and Mr Roberts was picked to succeed him, Mrs Bush renewed her lobbying.
Shortlists drawn up on sexual or racial grounds are bitterly opposed by many conservatives who dislike gender or ethnic quotas [i.e. institutionalized racism and sexism]. However, Mr Rove disclosed that the choice was restricted to women while telephoning James Dobson, the chairman of the powerful Focus on the Family group to lobby for support for Ms Miers.
Mr Dobson last week revealed that Mr Rove also told him that some potential conservative female nominees did not want their names to go forward as they did not want to face a potentially bitter Senate confirmation process.
At this stage, Mrs Bush joined others in the White House in recommending Ms Miers, a little known figure, as a candidate.
"She knew her, she liked her, she trusted her," said a Republican strategist with close White House ties.
"And the President thought that she would be easier to get past the Democrats as she didn't have a judicial paper trail."
John Fund, a commentator for The Wall Street Journal, said that senior aides for Mr Cheney and Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general, tried to block the nomination, indicating that the White House is not as united as usual.
Many social conservatives reacted with fury as Ms Miers, whose constitutional views are unknown, was chosen to replace a swing voter on a panel that often splits 5-4. They believed that Mr Bush had promised to nominate someone with a proven judicial conservative track record.
Another Republican strategist said:
"Miers has to be withdrawn or the party will fracture. Her nomination is creating an utterly unnecessary schism."
The Miers furore comes as the White House and senior Republicans are handling a series of criminal allegations and rows over high spending plans and an apparent deal with North Korea over its nuclear programme.
"It looks like a perfect storm," said Joe diGenova , a Republican and former senior federal prosecutor.
What nonsense.
"That decision has sparked the most serious crisis of Mr Bush's almost five years in office."
Oh yeah. 9/11 and the war in Iraq are nothing compared to this. Lol.
On what evidence does this author base his comments about the first lady. All I remember her saying is she wanted him to pick a woman candidate.
Oh, and IB4TFW!
And the beat goes on-------!
I'll venture to say that words and intent were both manufactured and twisted to better serve the author's agenda.
What's your take on this, Hunden?
Lies, lies and more lies.
It's the Sunday Telegraph. 'Nuff said
Funny, I don't LOOK or FEEL "torn apart" nor do any other
Republicans I know.
This article seems so hysterical in tone and flowery, emotional rhetoric as to be...well, if I didn't know any better, I'd say it was written by CindySheehanFromJail.
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that little manufactured tidbit there. I'll confess, I stopped reading about halfway through.
Sky is falling! Sky is falling! BushhitlerDarthVaderallyourbasebelongstous...
This article reads like a Howard Dean speech. Or maybe Al Gore before the Sierra Club: "we're all dooomed, sea level's rising, temperatures up, BushLIEEEDDD..."
Don't forget about Ed Gillespie, who stated that some of the unease about miers "has a whiff of sexism and a whiff of elitism."
Gasoline On The Fire
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497576/posts
Mommy, make the bad man go away. I wish this was merely nonsense. Bush's lame nomination is fracturing conservatives. It's reality not nonsense.
Now that's a outstanding example of nonsense.
Does Mrs. Bush realize Judge Brown is also female, and far better qualified?
Or is croynism becoming more acceptable to Pubbies when the Bush's do it?
Thats POLITICAL crisis. Bush's choice is dividing his base. Sad but true.
Your point is well taken but Miers was a dumb pick. The Bush women are social liberals and I really don't want them making any court picks.
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