[pepperdog]

"Because of what I now know about how and why Harriet Miers was selected, I withdraw my earlier statements against her, my statements suggesting anything less than my strong support of the President, and finally, my self imposed exile from Free Republic."

It takes a good dog to change directions based on new information. Thanks for your honesty and your willingness to share your information and opinion.

A note to those who choose to criticize the PD, if you are so knowledgeable and have a valid, to you, opinion of the nomination please share with the rest of us. If all you have to share is criticism don't waste our time.

[clee1]

Thanks for the info.

The reasons you listed are the reasons I'll not be voting for no-b@lls republicans any more.

They are unfit to govern.

[Caipirabob]

Well, I appreciate the post. Seems like the media is willing to leave us in the dark to snipe at one another one this one. They're content to sit back and watch us eat our own since we really don't have much to go on. That's just what most of us are doing it seems.

Figures the only place I'd get info would be FR...

[CaptainK]

Thomas Sowell came to the same conclusion.
Interesting. It's the only logical reason to explain Bush's actions. All his other picks for judges were stellar. Bush is between a rock and a hard pace and the Dems are eating this up. Everyone, myself included, needs to calm down.

[verity]

The real reason you are back is that the guy in the right seat would not go along with your desire to barrel roll that 777. ;-)

[olezip]

Frankly, I was looking forward to the "nuclear option" to confirm a conservative judge to the Supreme Court such as Owens or Brown. We've got to stand up to the Demon-crats! We are in a civil war right now, and have got to have the gonads to take on the communists! ...democrats.. many do not know it yet but many democrats are useful idiots.

[PilloryHillary]

Your "rants" are always interesting (except for the long opus one a few days back), and have some valuable information, whether it's from "insiders" that you happen to know, or just inside your head. Doesn't really matter.

First, you're here, then you're not. You post an opus...'byebye, I'm going etc.' Then, you're back, but only lurking. Then, you stop lurking to post a short blurb about some football game, then say you're back to lurking again. ANNNNNNNNNND.....NOW, you're BACK! I'm really glad you decided to come back, but please just make up your mind what you're gonna do, OK???? ;-)

[Texas Songwriter]

It strikes me, Dog, that President Bush needs to step up to a microphone and tell the world the exact story you put up here. Tell the whole world.....and suddenly the base is back and unified. Then carry on with the nomination. If all of this is true, he could inflict serious pain on his enemies from both sides of the isle. Tell the world that he is being threatened by Specter. Tell us that the good and decent judges who are known quantities have largely opted out because they don't want a contrived or real scandal because of youthful indiscretions or they don't want their families to have to endure the attack from Opposition Research. Prove to world in these terms that the G*****mn democrats don't care about their country or their countrymen. Expose them for the low-down, surley bastards that they are. He is the President and the people will hear him.

[Moonman62]

It appears to me that Harriet Miers is the best CONFIRMABLE candidate for the Supreme Court at this time. This fact is not the fault of the President. Indeed it is OUR fault. It is us who have supported less than the best candidates for the Senate. We are responsible for Chaffee, Snowe, McCain, Graham, Lott, Frist and other persons of questionable courage. We should not be blaming Bush for our own votes. We selected the people that the President must rely upon to move his agenda forward. If they are losers, then he loses too.

I'm really tired of hearing excuses for GWB. He holds the most powerful office and he can fight for what's right if he wants to. Instead he's chosen the "new tone in Washington" which seems to mean never use a veto and lead a bipartisan raid on the treasury. It's a colossal failure in my opinion, just as his support for Specter's reelection is a failure. GWB owns this pile of manure.

[counterpunch]

I am told that Arlen Specter has gone back on every single promise he made when his chairmanship was still a question, and feels untouchable now that he is ill, because any punitive measures taken against him would be seen as ‘less than compassionate’ by the MSM and Democrats

Bush and Santorum made their beds. Now Bush has Specter sabotaging his agenda and Santorum is going to lose his re-election bid for supporting "Scotty". Instead of Pennsylvania having one Republican senator, it will have none. Spector is actually worse than simply not being a Republican. He's doing far more damage on the inside than he could have done from the outside. I don't see how kicking Specter off the Judiciary committee, or hell, out of the party could do all that damage to the GOP. People would shrug their shoulders and say "who?" and then forget all about it a week later.

Gonzales would face pointed questions about Abu Gharab, Gitmo, and the administration’s policy on torture. It would have been ugly, but he would have been confirmed against the added damage done by dejected a dejected conservative base, and liberal attacks on the President’s agenda.

Miers is vulnerable to the exact same attacks.

[Clintonfatigued]

This article will explain a lot.

[joesbucks]

So what you're saying is that each of these nominees have skeletons in their closets so bad that it would destroy them and likely the President and the opposition research found it?

[TheForceOfOne]

Welcome back, ignore the dimwits, great post. :)

[GopherIt]

Don't let the door hit you on the way in! ;>)

>Yes, like Rush Limbaugh said, it was a choice made from weakness.
>But the thing to remember, is that it was not Bush’s weakness, but our own, and that of the people we have elected to Congress that made this happen. Had they been strong, Bush could have selected anyone we wanted.


There, PD, you have said it all.

[eddie2]

This has been obvious since the gang of fourteen debacle.
P.S. to the lovely Ann Coulter: W ain't no stupid drunk.

[Jim Noble]

Dog, I'm sure this is all (mostly) true.

My POV is that the President's job under the circumstances is to get us a better Senate.

My opinion about the best way to do that is to send nominee after excellent nominee to be rejected by these out of touch, far left of the mainstream Senators, and run like hell on it in 2006.

I think the Supreme Court is our best and strongest, not only our most important, issue.

Rejection of Brown, Luttig, McConnell, etc would cost the opposition big time, IMO.

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

Hell i didn't even know you left !

Welcome Back

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Yeah, me too!
It would have been a whole bunch of fun to see some liberal guts sliding through the scuppers, but for now, we just need to hang tight, together, or get ready to hang, seperately and all alone!

[bert]

If you had paid attention, you would already know most of what you wrote. It has been here all along but ignored.

[Exit148]

I hadn't made up my mind. but was leaning toward her, while reading what everyone else was saying --- pro and con. I wanted to wait till the hearings, but your post will give me something to think about while we wait.