Michael: Miers Matters
I gotta say, I'm delighted by the Miers nomination. I think it is simply wonderful.In other words, it is the absolutely worst thing Bush could have done: appoint a facially unqualified crony for the nation's highest court. This move reveals Bush at his absolute worst. He is treating a lifetime Article III appointment to the Supreme Court like a patronage position in the Executive. It reinforces symbolically everything that is wrong with the Bush Executive.
What makes it even better, is that the Left gets to keep its powder dry on this nomination while the Right eats its own with the whole nation looking on during the confirmation hearing. I'm practically squirming with anticipation.
I've got no reputation for accurate prognostication to protect so, screw it: Miers won't get out of committee and it will be the far Right that will torpedo her. This will touch off a political battle royale that will set the stage for 2006 and 2008.
The clamour on the Right for fully litmus-tested ideologue who is sure to strike down Roe v. Wade at the earliest opportunity is going to strengthen the Left's political hand when Bush's next nominee is revealed. Chastened and weakened by his humiliation from his right, that person will be highly groomed Federalist Society fascist with a solid paper-trail and will have to be filibustered.
Frist, recognizing his possible future in DeLay's disgrace and discredited with the moderates and the ambitious in his own party, won't have the cojones to pull the nuclear pin, and Bush will have to make a third nomination. This time it will be a moderate pre-cleared by the Senate minority to fill O'Connor's seat. Bush's Presidency will essentially be over with this massive defeat on the thing the Right most wanted from his Presidency.
The confirmation battle will be a huge issue in the 2006 elections, and a overwhelmingly losing one for the GOP. Packing the court with ideologues has never been a popular move; even FDR got shot down when he attempted it.
I'm begining to suspect that the writers at West Wing have either really good sources or a crystal ball. The storyline of Vinick's false promise to the Right to appoint litmus tested judges nailed the most important issue of the week; the Right's hissy fit in demanding only an absolutely Roe-negative judge.
You can glimpse the naked fear peeking through the Christo-fascists' bluster. They think, rightly, that this is their last chance to lock in a conservative majority on the Supreme Court before the tide of populist evangelicalism recedes back into the history books. In their desperation, the true believers of the religious wing of the GOP are going to overplay their hand and reveal the Taliban robes beneath their bespoke suits. The majority of Americans will recoil at the sight and vote accordingly for genuine secular government.
posted by Michael Bryan @ 10/11/2005 12:17:00 AM
3 Comments:
The majority of Americans will recoil at the sight and vote accordingly for genuine secular government.
I wish that were true, Michael. The bulk of Americans are frighteningly superstitious. Secularists are still in the minority, and they're really in the minority among elected officials.
Obviously, you are right that most Americans have relgious beliefs. But the important thing is that they have diverse religious beliefs. The only thing preserving that ecumenical peace is how thoroughly most Americans have accepted a theologically nuetral and secular state. The Inquisition lurking behind these "Christians" drive to use state power to enforce their religious ideas may be enough to stir up the committed secularist in even the more devout believers.
Speak it, brotha! This was one of your best pieces! I hope everything falls out the way you're predicting. If only I still had an ear inside Pusch Ridge Christian Academy...
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