and NE Corridor Elitism = Bad News, all around!
Yeah, I know... all that makes little sense in the point of the current discussion. And yet it does.
I dont know WHAT Bush and Rove were thinking in this nomination but it SURE HAS BROADENED The political discourse.
No longer can Conservatives point to Liberals' Harvard Yard populism with disdain and derision. We have that in our own!
Our own National Review elitists have weighed in and found this 'common girl' wanting! Beltway 'high-church Conservatives' want her withdrawn! The nerve of that Texas oaf who was on their fringes, by dint of "Skull&Bones" and Harvard Attendance to bring in a commoner to the most prestigious stage of governance!
Note what
Beldar's blog has to say about it!
The view that Harriet Miers lacks the proper 'Credentials' because of her law school and/or lack of bench experience seems credible on the face of it, but when you get DOWN to the goal of putting an associate on the panel who will consider more than primae facie legal precedent as applied to modern society, does it REALLY matter all that much?
The idea that Bush nominates yet another 'crony' in the aftermath of Katrina where Michael Brown performed dismally is at the root of a lot of this carping. But there's a difference. Brown excelled at bureaucracy, and his credentials in that arena, to say nothing of his acting the bureaucrat to the bitter end is also his failing.
The difference is Bush KNOWS Miers. and Dubya may be dyslexic and inarticulate but he aint stupid.
And what is WRONG with a justice who KNOWS what it takes to run a law firm.. and what it takes to manage a state bar. And what, therefore, is BEHIND a lot of the legal wranglings that go on backstage in any litigation.
If Miers had come out of Harvard, Yale or Stanford.. I suspect we wouldnt be having this discussion, never mind she never sat bench.
Even Rush Limbaugh is torn, and an example, as well... his hero was William F Buckley, but anyone would have to admit that Limbaugh's presentation of the same points as Buckley would make is like night and day
While Buckley was often the subject of parody for his learned demeanor and dry ivy-league cynical wit, Limbaugh takes it to the level of the common guy. Both can poke holes in the Liberal stream of thought, both employ a cynical approach but, in Rush's case, to 'get it', you dont have to be upperclass educated elite.
Suppose you had to have 'credentials' to be a political satirist/pundit.. and the model was Buckley? Rush would still be doing PR for Sports teams.
Hell... for that matter, Randi Rhodes would be doing "Homemaker's Corner" for some local radio station. While I would prefer the latter case, look at what we'd have missed in the former example.
And then there's McCain... he is relatively silent on this. The problem with McCain is that he is between a rock and a hard place. Harry Reid already stole his thunder with his advocacy, so McCain cant be the 'building bridges' leader. PLUS he knows that he'll be left high and dry when Reid invokes the "I was for her before I voted against her" parlor trick.
Let's face it, McCain KNOWS he screwed the pooch with Campaign Finance Reform, which ended up making things worse rather than better. And McCain knows that his 'cred' stems from elitism, in his case back through his Dad, plus his POW experience, never mind his work on the Senate floor; suspect at the least.
So I suspect that McCain is waiting to see how the hearings go... and I am for that. In fact, I wish everyone would have waited.
Because, nerve-racking as this is, I suspect that Rove and Bush have dreamed up yet another "Rope-a-Dope" and will prove - yet again - just how incompetent our elected officials become once they're marinated in the beltway sauce.
And, as enjoyable as that is, it isnt good for the American Voter's opinion of our system.
****
The other names? Ah, I just threw those in there ....
UPDATE:
Someone sent an EMAIL to Hugh Hewitt, wherein he coined the term for this beltway elitism "EVIAN Flu"
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