October 12, 2005

Why Miers was Picked

Today, President Bush told reporters,

People are interested to know why I picked Harriet Miers. They want to know Harriet Miers' background. They want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion.

Does Bush mean to say one of the reasons he picked Miers is because of her religion? Was their a religious test? I'm on the record as not caring about a potential justice's religious beliefs. For me, judicial and political philosophy trumps religion.

We learned from James Dobson today that Miers wasn't the President's first choice.

Some of the other candidates who had been on that short list, and that many conservatives are now upset about were highly qualified individuals that had been passed over. Well, what Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list and they would not allow their names to be considered, because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter, that they didn’t want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it.

So, even today, many conservatives and many of ‘em friends of mine, are being interviewed on talk shows and national television programs. And they’re saying, “Why didn’t the President appoint so-and-so? He or she would have been great. They had a wonderful judicial record. They would have been the kind of person we’ve been hoping and working and praying for to be on the Court. Well, it very well may be that those individuals didn’t want to be appointed.

Bush was insistent that a women be chosen. When other, more qualified women declined to run the Senate Judiciary gauntlet he stuck to the female criteria instead of finding a more qualified man. It would be politically more difficult to get confirmed, but many conservatives relished a fight. Bush's mistake was being so insistent on choosing a woman that he tossed qualifications aside.

Dobson still hasn't come clean. He told his listeners, "Karl Rove had shared with me her judicial philosophy which was consistent with the promises that President Bush had made when he was campaigning." What did Rove tell Dobson about Miers' judicial philosophy? All of us who will live under Miers' rulings should know her thinking process.

"Bush: Miers' Religion Key Part of Her Life"