Some days are better than others. Then there are good news days, which are the best. Take for example Monday, Oct. 3: Tom DeLay gets indicted on a second, more-to-the-point money laundering charge, Anderson Cooper finally cracks a smile and shows clips of Saturday Night Live making fun of him (and then keeps the tape rolling when the joke turns on Geraldo Rivera), and finally, George Bush nominates Sandra Day O’Connor’s second replacement. But Monday was not just a good news day, it was a really good day, too, because it was the day I got cable. Let the C-SPAN marathons begin.
There is nothing I love more than when the president pulls someone completely out of left field. John Roberts was such a nominee. Prior to his nomination and confirmation, he was relatively unknown. No skeletons were brought out of his closet; he seemed like a nice enough family man. The Republicans loved how he didn’t really answer a lot of questions, and the Democrats just sort of took one for the team. The politicians and the media makers assumed he would breeze through confirmation and he did. George Bush even loved him so much he bumped up his nomination to Supreme Court justice. Because, of course, Rehnquist is dead, and needs a replacement much quicker than Sandra Day O’Connor, who retired to take care of her terminallyill husband.
I have long thought that Bush’s Supreme Court nominations were going to be socially moderate, as is the case with Roberts. I do not think Roberts will try to overturn Roe v. Wade or turn gay marriage into a federal issue, nor do I think any Bush nominee will. I think Bush used these issues to activate voters who vote according to what makes them feel “icky,” and does not really care about the direction the court goes on social issues. No, Bush cares about big
business and how it will fare. He cares about making his friends and loyal minions rich and powerful. So while Roberts was a moderate “nice guy” surprise, Harriet Miers is the epitome of the W. appointment. Why this story contributes to such a great news day has mostly to do with how it is being spun.
First off, Miers is – predictably enough – an old crony of the president’s. Hailing from Texas, she has made her way up in the White House, from Andy Card’s staff to the president’s staff. According to several news reports, her latest duty has been to “regulate the flow of information to the president’s desk.” Most likely this includes phonetically spelling out big words in the margins, attaching acronym cheat sheets to government agency reports and deciding which Bed Bath & Beyond coupons are really a good deal and which she should just shred. Miers has no judicial experience, but she has been on the Texas Lottery Commission, where she fired two guys and earned herself the reputation of being “tough.” She has also been Bush’s personal lawyer, representing him during a dispute concerning his east Texas fishing cottage. I can see how hooking her up with a sweet job in Washington is a way to say “Thanks,” but a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land? Who could possibly think this is a good idea?
Turns out Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid does. Speaking with a silent, overly eye-lined Miers by his side, he declared, “Like 39 or 40 or so of justices that have gone before, she has absolutely no judicial experience. I think that’s a good thing!” Okay….
There is nothing like unedited democracy. Reid babbled on for a while about how unqualified Miers is and how that totally qualifies her for the position. Then he started to praise her character by saying we really need “someone like her,” without elaborating on what that meant. Eventually, Reid addressed the rumor that Miers gave money to Al Gore when he ran for president in 1988, adding, “That makes it better for me.”
But it was the delivery that was really comical. There were many awkward pauses and – I swear this is true – actual laughter from Reid as he tried to pump up the tuffet Little Miss Miers was standing on. In sharp contrast, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman and Republican Arlen Specter commented on Miers’ difficulty finding a job.
Reid also said he personally told Dick Cheney to tell the president to nominate Miers. Reid, who is Mormon and anti-abortion, might just be the kind of guy who could pull off a compromise with the notoriously stubborn administration. After all, Clinton allowed the Republicans to pick a Supreme Court justice from a pool he selected as a compromise to ensure an easy confirmation. It has come out quickly that Miers financially supported the Democratic Party, supports the idea of full civil rights for gays and backed AIDS education programs in Dallas. So while Miers has no experience being a judge, she certainly has experience being a liberal, which would explain Reid’s giddiness. The immediate fallout of this nomination is funny, interesting and constantly developing; maybe the real good news is what went on last week to make such a nomination happen.

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