Posted on 10/27/2005 9:13:07 PM PDT by quidnunc
Anaheim, Calif. – Over the last two elections, the Republican Party regained control of the United States Senate by electing new senators in Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota and Texas. These 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. Now, with the withdrawal of Harriet Miers under an instant, fierce and sometimes false assault from conservative pundits and activists, it will be difficult for Republican candidates to continue to make this winning argument: that Democrats have deeply damaged the integrity of the advice and consent process.
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.
Not all critics of Ms. Miers from the right used these tactics, and those who did not will be able to continue on with the project of restoring sanity to the process that went haywire with Judge Bork's rejection in 1987. Conservatives are also fortunate that no Republican senator called for Ms. Miers's withdrawal.
But the Democrats' hand has been strengthened. Voting for or against Ms. Miers would have forced Senate Democrats to articulate a coherent standard for future nominees. Now, the Democrats have free rein.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
HH is now off my lists, bye Hugh.
Come on Hugh. Frist told Bush that Miers did not have the support of the GOP caucus. Ya, they told Bush, rather than the cameras. But that was what tanked Miers, no matter how you spin it. Stop spinning Hugh. It really isn't necessary.
The process has been bastardized.
LOL - I love you Hugh, but it is delusional to think they DIDN'T have free reign before this.
As if precedent, or anything else for that matter, would ever stop the 'Rats from tactics they felt would help them maintain power.
The family squabble is over Hugh, (and quidnunc). Time for W to do the right thing and for everyone to come on board.
So nice of Mr. Hewitt to finally make unmistakable the contention that he is no conservative.
Oh Oh! Hugh name again. Get ready for the $#IT to fly!
I thought he was on vacation...again.
That standard didn't last long.
Bush could nominate the White House janitor and Hugh Hewett would fall over over himself to defend the pick.
If she hadn't withdrawn, she'd have had her up-or-down vote.
And there's no doubt about the outcome.
Miers could have had an up or down vote, and maybe have been confirmed with Dem votes. Bush decided not to cross the GOP caucus, and declare war. He made a political judgment. The yammerings of the right wing pressure groups I don't think had that much impact on the senators frankly. The accumlating merits did. THE SPEECH did (it certainly sent me over the side). Time to move on. I think the significance of all of this is overblown, including that Bush choosing someone more "reliable," more "seasoned," with more gravitas, will give the Dems much traction either. The net impact of the Miers affair will be very marginal, over time, and indeed vis a vis the next nominee.
There certainly was, albeit with Pubbie bodies littering the floor.
yep... as much as I like Hugh, he's off base here.
jw
What a RINO twerp! Who has laid down on the job of dumping the lithium in HH's oatmeal every morning? It really shows.
"Hugh Hewitt's Last Stand"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1509136/posts
"Hugh Hewitt and Harriet Miers: Jumping the Supreme Court Shark"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1508069/posts
Lets go Janice !
And there's no doubt about the outcome.
Which would have been fine. We would have kept the moral high ground, but we didn't. We gave it away by acting just like democrats.
"They are currently seeking a political conservative to hire in his place." :)
She quit.
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