Harriet Miers' Supreme Opportunism
The nomination of Harriet Miers as the replacement for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has united liberals and conservatives in ways few thought possible. Democrats fear she is a stealth arch-conservative. But it is Republicans fellow-travelers like Michelle Malkin, Bill Kristol and David Frum who seem most horrified. They are simply astounded that Bush confirmed Americans' worst fears that he values cronyism over qualification.
Given her complete lack of a track record on the bench, it's virtually impossible to know where Miers stands on key issues or to assess her judicial philosophy. But one thing we know for sure is that Harriet Miers is supremely opportunistic.
Consider her unwavering loyalty to the President in her role as White House Counsel. David Frum, author of the "Axis of Evil", recounted in disbelief that "she once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met." Be that as it may, Mier's role as Bush's water-carrier can't be doubted. In a question and answer session last October, Miers repeated the Republican fiction that President Bush inherited a recession from Bill Clinton.
"As 2001 progressed we saw the stock market continue a decline that had begun in the middle of 2000 before the Bush Administration took office. We also witnessed an economy slipping further into a recession as 2001 unfolded...The President’s optimism and faith in the American people and our economy helped inspire a remarkable recovery."
Miers' propaganda work, unusual for a White House Counsel, did not end there. She spoke in glowing terms of the Bush Social Security plan, oil drilling in ANWAR, and his wartime leadership. Miers also displayed her adroitness as a Bush White House hack in the battle over the judicial nominees, claiming in June (perhaps presciently) that the candidates the president put forward "deserve an up-or-down vote." It's no wonder that then Governor Bush called her "a pit bull in size 6 shoes."
Jerry Clements, Miers' partner at Locke Liddell & Sapp before she replaced Alberto Gonzales in the White House, said that "she is defined by hard work, dedication and client loyalty." But dedication to what? In 1988, Miers donated $1000 to Al Gore for his run for the Democratic nomination for President and another $1000 to the DNC for the general election. (She gave nothing to Bush's father.) Apparently, she also donated to Bill Clinton in 1991.
Miers' stints as Dallas city councillor, head of the Texas Lottery Commission and the Texas Bar, private attorney and Bush White House Counsel simply don't add up to a place on the United States Supreme Court. But her steadfast loyalty to George W. Bush seems sufficient to add her name to the ranks of Michael Brown, Joe Allbaugh, Julie Myers and the rest of the Banana Republicans.
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