Dubya Threatens Senators Allen and Brownback
(Hat tip: Professor Bainbridge)
Gail Heriot at The Right Coast has more on the threats being issued from the White House in regard to the Miers nomination:
The Bush administration continues to have a political tin ear when it comes to the Harriet Miers nomination. Senators Brownback and Allen, both presidential aspirants, have evidently been told that they will receive no help from Bush if they don't get in line behind the Miers nomination. Political arm twisting isn't pretty under the best of circumstances. But in this case it is made doubly disagreeable on account of the identity of person selected to deliver the message. The task has been given to Tom Rath--former New Hampshire Attorney General. The problem is that this is the same Tom Rath who "actively assisted" in the confirmation of another Supreme Court nominee a few years back--David Souter. Other sources call Rath a "close friend of Souter's since the 1970s." Whatever one thinks of the merits of the Miers nomination, it would seem prudent for the Bush administration to avoid such symbolic blunders.My Comments:
(emphasis added)
There was a time not too long ago when I used to gush (very Harriet-Miers-like) about how much I REALLY LIKED George W. Bush. Now, I am increasingly beginning to really NOT LIKE this jerk. What I once thought was his daddy's tin ear when it came to the causes and concerns of the conservative base I now realize to be the Bushie familia doing what the Bushie familia does. Perhaps I am late to the game, but I am beginning to think that these are not nice people, no matter how many times "Bush 41 and his boys" cry on national TV.
At any rate, I hope that 2 of my favorite Senators - my own Senator, George Allen, and a Senator that I am starting to keep an eye on, Sam Brownback - I hope these 2 Senators tell Dubya to go to hell.
UPDATE:
See Kathryn Jean Lopez's piece at National Review Online asking whether your Senator is a "profile in courage" when it comes to standing up to Dubya on the Miers nomination.
posted by Pro Ecclesia 9:05 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
This stuff just validates my 2000 primary vote for Alan Keyes. And in '88 for Jack Kemp.
I vote Bush when the alternative is a pro-abortion Democrat; otherwise I can usually find someone else I prefer.
He's way better than Gore or Kerry, but I'm not interested in adding him to Mt. Rushmore.
Bush's threats toward Allen and Brownback carry little credibility. Bush has supported Specter over Toomey, and continues to give support to the other liberal Republicans like Lincoln Chaffee and Susan Collins, despite all the times that these liberals have stabbed Bush in the back.
In addition, who cares whether Bush supports them. If anything, *he* still needs *their* support if he wants to have any legislative accomplishments in the remaining three years of his presidency.
Bush should not be issuing threats to these conservative Senators who have supported him through many battles.
"Interesting but on Oct 3, Allen released this statement regarding the Miers pick:"
That was then, this is now. Apparently, Sen. Allen has had some second thoughts. This is what he has said since then:
Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, considered a potential presidential candidate, said that "people who I have a great deal of admiration for" had said they were "disappointed or deflated" by the choice.
"I want to be assured that she is not going to be another Souter," Mr. Allen said, referring to Justice David H. Souter, a George H. W. Bush appointee who has upheld abortion rights and other liberal precedents. "I understand the president knows her well, but I don't."
And this:
Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican who previously has been strongly supportive of Mr. Bush's judicial nominees, said he's not sure about this one.
And this:
Sen. George Allen, R-Va., who has been considering running for president in 2008, said that praise of Miers by Senate Democrat leader Harry Reid had alarmed many Republicans.
"There is a visceral reaction that if Harry Reid likes her, what does he know that we don't know?" Allen said on MSNBC's Hardball program.
And this:
As for Miers, he has adopted a sceptical wait-and-see approach before deciding whether to confirm her appointment to the Supreme Court.
“I want to see conservative judges on the court,” Allen said.
And this:
"I don't want to be complicit in another Souter or another Kennedy," said Sen. George Allen, R-Va., adding he wants to satisfy himself about Miers' judicial philosophy before deciding how to vote on her nomination.
Looks like my Senator has definitely NOT been sold on the Miers nomination.
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