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October 3, 2005
Tragedy and Farce
I was planning on blogging on the recent election in New Zealand, until the Bali bombings during the weekend. But evidently that's been completely overshadowed this morning when President Bush finally found his preferred replacement for Sandra Day O'Connor: another wrinkly white woman by the name of Harriet Miers.
But really, what more is there to say when it's absolutely obvious that the sky is falling? (all via Malkin, except for WS link)
The reaction amongst the conservative blogosphere to the Miers nomination ranged from “meh” to “oh God take me now.” But while I, too, don't see much to get excited about in prospective associate justice, this sort of reaction seems completely overblown. It's not the disappointment of hoping for a new bike on Christmas and getting underwear instead. This is more like getting a big box of pig feces.
If there's one thing that everyone agrees on, it's that we really don't know all that much about Harriet Miers (except that, perhaps, she may like guns, like(d) Al Gore (via WSJ), and might bat for the other team (via Insta)). I'm not discounting the possibility of severe disappointment, but can we at least give ourselves a day to ponder it through? And maybe let the lady speak?
But I suppose in the two-second response times of the blogosphere, everything's going to sound a lot more shrill.
On another note, isn't it a tad hypocritical for us conservatives to be railing about the political views of potential judges when our requirement for them should be an originalist perspective and competent knowledge of the law, and nothing further? And whatever happened to the idea of choosing people that haven't been judges forever, lest future justices are excessively divorced from reality? Concepts that conservatives have complained about for ages regarding judicial nominations, and nobody seems to recall them anymore.
Well, at least Powerline gets that the complaints are getting a bit excessive. Although the emphasis on the political ramifications of the nomination suggests that most people still don't get it.
And is it just me, or are the academics being a lot less impulsive and a lot more reflective about this? Reynolds, Volokh et al., and Drezner don't seem to be beseeching the heavens for guidance and aren't eagerly giving political advice.
All that aside, and lest I look like I'm cheering on Ms. Miers (she'll have to earn my respect), I'm ending with the note that this nomination stinks if for one reason only: Ms. Miers' personal relationship with the President has critically compromised the perception of integrity for the nominee. It's the sort of ominous cloud that should not hang over the head of such the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
Next time, I hope to rant about Tom DeLay and why I think he should get lost. (Hint: that ominous cloud over the Miers nomination ain't got squat compared to the cumulonimbus over DeLay.)
UPDATE (2005-10-06, 0700 PST): The New Editor says pretty much the same thing: that the blogosphere overreacted and reacted too quickly to the Miers nomination (via Insta, who responds).
Posted by Kelvin at October 3, 2005 8:36 PM
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