Either way, there's no better place to start your morning than with the peerless Ward Harkavy and his Village Voice blog, the "Bush Beat." In his "Morning Report" on Tuesday, Harkavy said, "It's kind of a horse race: Will Harriet Miers withdraw before Patrick Fitzgerald draws on her bosses? The White House needs to clear the decks for possible Plamegate indictments, and Miers will be needed to shuffle papers for George W. Bush's handlers. My money is on the nag to pull out before Fitzgerald pulls up in front of the White House, because everyone knows she can't make the weight."
And this morning Harkavy wrote..."George W. Bush's handlers have finally put Harriet Miers out of our misery. She just now withdrew her name as a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court."
Harkavy's right. Not necessarily about Miers being a "nag" but, with the Fitzgerald storm clouds gathering on the dashboard of Bush's White House, the "cabal" -- as this bunch laughingly dubbed themselves early in this misadministration -- will need every lawyer it can hog-tie and drag into service.
Oh, yeah. I forgot. That attorney is Harriet Miers who, in my humble opinion, disqualified herself the instant she said George Bush is "the most brilliant man I have ever known..."
The Miers' nomination lasted 24 agonizing days. It was a stroke of genius on the part of Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid to convince Bush that Miers was the perfect Supreme Court candidate. In one fell swoop, Reid knocked the White House off its axis, threw radical right-wing Republicans into total disarray; forcing them to come screeching out of the shadows, and insured at least a delay in packing the high court with Scalias and Thomases...
A brilliant move. Bush, confident that his rabid "base" could be pacified with code phrases like, "I know her heart...I chose her because she is a Christian and a strict constructionist," and flush with success at getting John Roberts' confirmed as Chief Justice while refusing to answer a single ideological question, immediately painted himself into a corner with Harriet Miers. And it was there he ran out of political capital.
I doubt that Bush will ever know what hit him as he was unceremoniously jerked back into line. Having a crony in place to bail him out of possible impeachment action, or of legal problems arising from his bloody illegal war had to have been one reason -- perhaps the reason -- Bush selected Miers, his personal attorney, for the Supreme Court. Unfortunately for Bush, the ultraconservatives who control his party -- who control the government -- are interested in just one thing, and that is to move the Supreme Court so far to the right they can reshape the Constitution to their ideology. Once Bush achieves that goal, he will be of no further use to them.
Like Senator Sam Brownback (Neocon-Kan), who was all over the media today, said, "This is not a one-person party." Brownback said the president needs to realize that he "made a mistake," and move on to do something about it. If Brownback and his Christo-fascist co-horts in this country have their way, we will soon be under the rule of the "higher source of all law -- God -- and will have no need for any court, let alone a Supreme one.
Believe it. Brownback is a co-sponsor of Senate Bill S520, which proposes an addition to Sec.1260 of Title 28, Chapter 81 of the U.S. Code. It is called the "Constitution Restoration Act of 2005." Read it and weep.
"Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the Supreme Court shall not have jurisdiction to review, by appeal, writ of certiorari, or otherwise, any matter to the extent that relief is sought against an element of Federal, State, or local government, or against an officer of Federal, State, or local government (whether or not acting in official personal capacity), by reason of that element's or officer's acknowledgement of God as the sovereign source of law, liberty, or government."
Brownback is just one of many who are poised to take over this country. They won this battle. They must not be allowed to win the war.
So, with a grin and a wave, Harriet Miers returned to her office in the White House at the same time Harry Reid stood on the Senate floor and solemnly chided conservatives for publicly stoning her.
"The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination. Apparently, Ms. Miers did not satisfy those who want to pack the Supreme Court with rigid ideologues," Reid said, before making yet another helpful suggestion to Bush..."In choosing a replacement for Ms. Miers, President Bush should not reward the bad behavior of his right wing base. He should reject the demands of a few extremists and choose a justice who will protect the constitutional rights of all Americans."
But like Harkavy says, that ain't gonna happen. Reid fooled him once and, although Bush is dumb as dirt, his handlers will not let him "get fooled again." Harkavy reminds us that the Bush Law, as enunciated by Bush himself, is alive and well...
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