A Pit Bull In Size 8 Shoes
*written in October 2005
We can all agree that everything we hear isn’t always true—especially if the words are not directly from the source.
But I’ve been hearing some things that are making me uneasy. Could it be possible that Roe V Wade be overturned?
I’ve read some Op-Eds where they pin Harriet Miers as unqualified. Most pieces fail to pick up on her 1985 feat that she was the first woman to become president of the Dallas Bar Association. Then seven years later, she became the first woman elected president of the State Bar of Texas. Miers has also been named one of the nation's 100 most powerful attorneys and as one of the nation's top 50 women lawyers by the National Law Journal.
But was she appointed because of her Southern Methodist education and/or her affiliations in Texas?
We’ll never know for certain.
White House officials say they want to relaunch the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court by moving from what they call a "biographical phase" to an "accomplishment phase." So they want to focus less on her religion and the fact that she wrote Bush, who was then Governor of Texas, a birthday card in 1997 gushing, "You are the best Governor ever—deserving of great respect!" (Not the only schoolgirlish-type letter, they added.) Instead, they are switching the talk to her accomplishments as a pioneering female lawyer.
What a novel idea.
No one seems pleased with the nomination. TIME reports that after Chief Justice John Roberts’ 78-to-22 confirmation, congressional Republicans are now fearing Miers’ vote could be as low as 52. Still, it’s good enough for a lifetime appointment.
But the press is reporting of some interesting and all-too-easy and blunt mudslinging. For instance, sixty-year-old Ms. Miers was said to look more like a prom date next to the confident Senators than an omnipotent future Supreme Court Justice. It was also purported that Republicans said she seemed unwilling or unable to answer questions about whether she viewed particular cases as important precedents and said she offered little beyond banal chatter. A man just never would be referred to as a "prom date." I’m surprised they haven’t pointed out the fact that she is unmarried and without children. But I’m sure I’m not the first to mention it in this context.
Did I just contribute to the mudslinging?
That’s up for interpretation.
Laura Bush picked up on the sexism and spoke about it on NBC’s Today show. Conservatives were pissed.
The press called Laura’s comment a "stumble" and the President played up his nominee's evangelical Christianity as part of her qualifications for the court.
I bet Laura's pissed.
Laura Bush 2012. Then she can shut George up by calling his manspeak a "stumble." She'd be better than Hil on the Hill (who is about as good as Geena Davis).
Even more interesting speak is coming from the religious right’s James Dobson of Focus on the Family. On his radio broadcast, he said: "When you know some of the things that I know—that I probably shouldn't know—you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice."
What does he know?
The gossip is all in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street journal that states that Dobson quelled the controversy by saying that Karl Rove, the White House's deputy chief of staff, had not given him assurances about how a Justice Miers would vote. "I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe V Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that—and I'm certain that he didn't because the president himself said he didn't know—Karl would not have told me that. That's the most incendiary information that's out there, and it was never part of our discussion."
Certain?
It was also written that the day the Miers nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson and other religious conservatives held a conference call discussing their belief that Miers would vote to overturn Roe.
It has to be noted that she could be pro-life, yet still not vote to overturn Roe V Wade.
These comments from the phone conference can be a prediction, but some believe it is an assurance.
Funny how these conservatives are so quick to want to overturn a set law on a woman’s right to choose, yet they won’t even consider amending a law that prevents same-sex marriages for those who are in love.
Will Ms. Miers be confirmed? If so, then the Supreme Court is more concerned with political outcomes than the rule of law.
Regardless, Miers is known for her cool determination. Bush once called her "a pit bull in size 6 shoes."
I wear size 8.
I thought pit bulls got a bad rep due to their trainers. Who then would Texan Miers’ trainer be?
By the way, Toledo, Ohio is currently on curfew due to a race riot when protesters came out in force during a Neo-Nazi rally. Some people are blaming the protesters for the violence. But how can a Neo-Nazi rally, even if they are acting "peaceful", be considered a sociable march when the message they are sending is of pure hate? ACLU, can you answer that?
Anything can happen. Even now.
We can all agree that everything we hear isn’t always true—especially if the words are not directly from the source.
But I’ve been hearing some things that are making me uneasy. Could it be possible that Roe V Wade be overturned?
I’ve read some Op-Eds where they pin Harriet Miers as unqualified. Most pieces fail to pick up on her 1985 feat that she was the first woman to become president of the Dallas Bar Association. Then seven years later, she became the first woman elected president of the State Bar of Texas. Miers has also been named one of the nation's 100 most powerful attorneys and as one of the nation's top 50 women lawyers by the National Law Journal.
But was she appointed because of her Southern Methodist education and/or her affiliations in Texas?
We’ll never know for certain.
White House officials say they want to relaunch the nomination of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court by moving from what they call a "biographical phase" to an "accomplishment phase." So they want to focus less on her religion and the fact that she wrote Bush, who was then Governor of Texas, a birthday card in 1997 gushing, "You are the best Governor ever—deserving of great respect!" (Not the only schoolgirlish-type letter, they added.) Instead, they are switching the talk to her accomplishments as a pioneering female lawyer.
What a novel idea.
No one seems pleased with the nomination. TIME reports that after Chief Justice John Roberts’ 78-to-22 confirmation, congressional Republicans are now fearing Miers’ vote could be as low as 52. Still, it’s good enough for a lifetime appointment.
But the press is reporting of some interesting and all-too-easy and blunt mudslinging. For instance, sixty-year-old Ms. Miers was said to look more like a prom date next to the confident Senators than an omnipotent future Supreme Court Justice. It was also purported that Republicans said she seemed unwilling or unable to answer questions about whether she viewed particular cases as important precedents and said she offered little beyond banal chatter. A man just never would be referred to as a "prom date." I’m surprised they haven’t pointed out the fact that she is unmarried and without children. But I’m sure I’m not the first to mention it in this context.
Did I just contribute to the mudslinging?
That’s up for interpretation.
Laura Bush picked up on the sexism and spoke about it on NBC’s Today show. Conservatives were pissed.
The press called Laura’s comment a "stumble" and the President played up his nominee's evangelical Christianity as part of her qualifications for the court.
I bet Laura's pissed.
Laura Bush 2012. Then she can shut George up by calling his manspeak a "stumble." She'd be better than Hil on the Hill (who is about as good as Geena Davis).
Even more interesting speak is coming from the religious right’s James Dobson of Focus on the Family. On his radio broadcast, he said: "When you know some of the things that I know—that I probably shouldn't know—you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice."
What does he know?
The gossip is all in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street journal that states that Dobson quelled the controversy by saying that Karl Rove, the White House's deputy chief of staff, had not given him assurances about how a Justice Miers would vote. "I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe V Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that—and I'm certain that he didn't because the president himself said he didn't know—Karl would not have told me that. That's the most incendiary information that's out there, and it was never part of our discussion."
Certain?
It was also written that the day the Miers nomination was announced, Mr. Dobson and other religious conservatives held a conference call discussing their belief that Miers would vote to overturn Roe.
It has to be noted that she could be pro-life, yet still not vote to overturn Roe V Wade.
These comments from the phone conference can be a prediction, but some believe it is an assurance.
Funny how these conservatives are so quick to want to overturn a set law on a woman’s right to choose, yet they won’t even consider amending a law that prevents same-sex marriages for those who are in love.
Will Ms. Miers be confirmed? If so, then the Supreme Court is more concerned with political outcomes than the rule of law.
Regardless, Miers is known for her cool determination. Bush once called her "a pit bull in size 6 shoes."
I wear size 8.
I thought pit bulls got a bad rep due to their trainers. Who then would Texan Miers’ trainer be?
By the way, Toledo, Ohio is currently on curfew due to a race riot when protesters came out in force during a Neo-Nazi rally. Some people are blaming the protesters for the violence. But how can a Neo-Nazi rally, even if they are acting "peaceful", be considered a sociable march when the message they are sending is of pure hate? ACLU, can you answer that?
Anything can happen. Even now.
posted by Michele at 12:49 PM
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