Transcript: Conservatives Debate Miers' Nomination on 'FNS'(RINO Graham appears to defend Miers)

Fox News ^ | 10/9/05 | Chris Wallace

[Ol' Sparky]

Transcript: Conservatives Debate Miers' Nomination on 'FNS'

BAUER: Look, I'm confused here. I can't tell whether Judge Hecht is arguing that she is going to overturn Roe or she's not going to overturn Roe. If he wants to reassure his fellow pro-life conservatives, that's the last argument he should be making, the argument that he just made.

He said he hasn't talked to her about Roe. The fact of the matter is for over 20 years of her being involved in the law, she has not written one word, said one word, given a speech, written a letter to the editor on any of the key constitutional issues that conservatives care about and are worried about and want to make sure the court does not go down the road on.

He said he knows her. Lots of people have come forward this week that know her, and a number of them have said I can't label her a conservative, a liberal or a moderate, I often couldn't figure out how she was going to vote. She sounds a lot like me like another swing vote, which was the last thing we were expecting a conservative president to give us.

[Ol' Sparky]

It looks like the only Republican Senators willing to lead the charge for this woman are her personal friends or RINOS like the Gang of 14's Lindsey Graham and liberal Arlen Specter. Wonder why...

[goldstategop]

When Arlen Specter says she needs to bone up on constitutional law, you know she's really unqualified. If her supporters are supplying material for late night comedy jokes, the jig's up. Miers may be able to survive attacks from political foes but her friends are not doing her any real favors.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[TitansAFC]

It is a very confusing and scary time for many of us. It did not need to be this way, it really didn't.

This pick is just baffling. Just downright baffling.

Almost a week later, I am still stunned and disappointed. I know I am not alone.

This simply does not bode well for the near future. Imagine if she rules in favor of McCain/Feingold. it'll be crippling in 2006.

[Racehorse]

Friend Hecht is a conservative Texas Supreme Court Justice.  He's just the sort of fellow critics ought to be paying attention to.

WALLACE: Justice Hecht, I know that you've talked to your old friend, Harriet Miers, this week. How does she respond to these attacks by conservatives that she's just a crony of the president and that her nomination is a joke?

HECHT: Well, it's just false and the criticism just rolls off her back. She's got a record miles long. This is a very solid appointment because of a solid, consistent track record over the years.

And to say that she doesn't have experience with these constitutional issues or with judicial philosophy -- she's been vetting for the president judicial candidates to the federal bench.

She has to know what is involved in these constitutional issues and judicial philosophy and inquire of candidates where they stand. And so I can't think of anybody else who would have had more experience with these issues on the ground than Harriet's had.

WALLACE: But what has she specifically said to you when people say she's just a crony, that this nomination is a joke?

HECHT: She just dusts it off. She knows it's not true, that the president has chosen her because he's watched her for 10 years. He's thrown her hardballs. You ask your lawyer time and again what's the answer to this question. Your lawyer gives you good advice. What do you think after 10 years? That she's a great lawyer.

WALLACE: Justice Hecht, let me ask you one other question. Bill Kristol, a member of our panel who will be on in a few minutes, says that this is such a bad nomination that Harriet Miers should actually consider stepping aside. Any chance of that?

HECHT: No chance at all. I mean, she is going to see this through, but not only that. Senator Graham says when her record becomes more apparent to the American people -- and they're going to see it in this confirmation process -- then not only is she not going to withdraw, people are going to herald this nomination as a good one.

The only way she'll withdraw from the contest, which isn't at all likely for a Texas gal with her reputation, is if she makes a mess of the hearings and becomes the embarrassment Fair Weather Republicans claim she is.

[tennmountainman]

I can tell you why.
Lindsey Graham is one weak-kneed RINO, who does not want to vote on the NUKE option. He'll support anything to having to cast a vote to break a fillibuster.
The Gang of 14 Idiots Boxed Bush in on his pick.
South Carolina, Throw the bum out!

[Huck]

Would be nice if he could cite an example or two from that mile long track record.

[wildbill]

Bauer and all the direct-mail money men obviously want a controversy to raise money. I wouldn't trust that little weasel with anything, much less the future of conservatism.

[Racehorse]

Would be nice if he could cite an example or two from that mile long track record.

He did.

I posted the comments.

What you want is some detailed, case by case, issue by issue, clarification.  Plenty of time for that.  But we'll only get that which is free and clear of attorney/client privilege, which will probably include most the table steak you want.

With FWRs howling about her, you can bet they're digging hard as Democrats for proof she's among the unworthy, which will in turn generate hours of television news theater defending her personal virtue and her professional worth.

Dontcha think?

[Huck]

My point is that someone saying she has a record, without offering any facts to back it up, is just another person talking.

[Mike Darancette]

He said he hasn't talked to her about Roe.

He had better say that unless he wants to get a subpoena from the RATS.

[Racehorse]

She is White House Counsel. That is a fact.

She has provided legal services for Bush for ten years. That is a fact.

Clients always keep attorneys on the payroll when they oppose their interests. That is not a fact.

People always talk when they're telling lies and when they're telling the truth. So?

Pick the issue you most care about and start a scrapbook. By the time we reach the hearings, you'll be the most knowledgeable and reliable poster on FR.

But, right now, I'll heed the people who know her and talk on her behalf, starting with Hecht.

[Mike Darancette]

When Arlen Specter says she needs to bone up on constitutional Scottish law, you know she's really unqualified he's really nuts.

[GarySpFc]

Friend Hecht is a conservative Texas Supreme Court Justice. He's just the sort of fellow critics ought to be paying attention to.

Hecht is more than a friend and conservative Texas Supreme Court Justice. He's also an elder in the Valley View Christian Church in Dallas. I have likewise been a member of the same church group, which is churches of Christ/Christian Churches for almost 35 years. I was for many years a vice-president for of one of the largest pro-life organizations, and worked to update two major Bible translations to a pro-life viewpoint.

When Miers was first nominated I contacted my best friend who is pastor in Dallas. I asked him if he knew anyone who was familiar with Miers. It just so happens his father has known HM since she was elected to the city council. He stated even back then she frequently stated, "We need to refer back to the city charter." She also said, "Our courts have gone too far and left the Founders intent." Hecht has also stated she reads her Bible like an originalist.

Would she vote pro-life? Hecht is simply being careful in his statements so as not to predjudice the Senate agains Miers. My buddy stated Valley View Christian is THE LEADING EVANGELICAL CHURCH in the Dallas area, and VERY PRO-LIFE....THINK FUNDAMENTALIST. Hecht has also stated Miers is pro-life. She is also very active in her church, and teaches and works on the missions committee, which also works with pro-life groups. I don't know Miers' heart, but I can tell you one cannot be a strong Evangelical in the churches of Christ/Christian Churches and be anything but pro-life. Anything else would be a denial of the faith, and that would extend to voting pro-life if asked. An Evangelical cannot be on the sidelines on the life issue. Life starts at conception.

[msnimje]

She is White House Counsel. That is a fact.

She has been the White House Counsel for about 7 months. That hardly adds much weight to her resume.

She was also moved out of Andrew Card's office because she was not getting the job done -- this was noted last year.

Last year, in an insightful profile of Miers in Legal Times, T.R. Goldman quoted Miers' White House colleagues, who suggested that, when she was deputy chief of staff for policy under Andrew Card, her obsessive focus on details and process made it hard for her to see the forest for the trees or to engage the large policy questions.

"She failed in Card's office for two reasons," a former White House official told Goldman. "First, because she can't make a decision, and second, because she can't delegate, she can't let anything go."

Source: [http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20051009/news_lz1e9miers.html]

[plushaye]

Harriet Mears' friends believe she will judge like Sandra Day O'Connor i.e not right of Scalia:

"I think she will be in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor in regards to how she makes her decisions," said Pederson, Miers' personal friend for more than 20 years. "She is not an ideologue. She is very pragmatic and will try to do what is right."

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/12827330.htm


Even Miers's former fiance, Jim Martin, can't predict how Miers might come down on matters before the high court. Martin said he thought she would be like retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who approached each case on its own merits and who disappointed her conservative backers by failing to overturn abortion rights.
''I think the likelihood is that Harriet will be in the mold of Sandra Day O'Connor, something of a swing voter," said Martin. ''She'd be far more in that mold than a conservative ideologue."
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/10/08/rise_of_miers_low_key_steady/?page=full


Defending Miers, Texas Supreme Court Judge Nathan Hecht said Miers was going to overcome the criticism and would not step aside. He said the former corporate lawyer was an abortion opponent, but said that does not mean she would vote to overturn Roe.
"Legal issues and personal issues are just two different things. Judges do it all the time," he told "Fox News Sunday."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051009/ap_on_go_su_co/miers;_ylt=ApneiSMpRPKe_NTC.1niGbqs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--


The people most familiar with her legal instincts did not provide much reassurance. "My theory is that she is going to be a Justice very much like Sandra Day O'Connor," says Gary Rice [S.M.U classmate] , in words that might cheer moderates but spook anyone looking for someone with a weed whacker who will go after liberal rulings of the past 30 years. "If she moves the law, it will be in small steps. She won't be one to say, 'Let's just throw all that out and do something different.'"

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1115673-1,00.html

[Huck]

I'm not heeding any talkers. I'm just waiting for the hearings.

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

What is this nice lady's "long track record." She has no paper trail, so what kind of track record is there? This is all just spin. Hecht dated her in Dallas, he's just spinning. Nothing new here.

Meanwhile, it's neat to see another slam on another noservative like Gary Bauer. I assume this "weasel" is just another elitist that should be ignored. At the end of this process, it seems that the pro-Miers crowd should be banned from ever referencing any of their articles or reports again.

[Racehorse]

I'm not heeding any talkers. I'm just waiting for the hearings.

I agree with that.  You bet.

But, I can't help myself.  What do you think people will be doing at the hearing?  Talking.

[tiki]

Look, the reason Bush nominated her was because the Dims have things on the others or their relatives, she is the only candidate at this time who probably can't be "Borked" or worse. We may not like it but the candidates themselves turned down Bush, not the other way around. They don't want their private lives dragged through the dirt and the mud.

[Huck]

I cant help myself either! When do the hearings start, anyway?