Harriet Miers - who is to blame?

Previous - An idea . . .

A number of commentators have weighed in with their thoughts on who really is to blame for the Harriet Miers debacle. Thomas Sowell rightly points the finger at the moderates in the Republican party in the Senate:

President Bush has taken on too many tough fights -- Social Security being a classic example -- to be regarded as a man who is personally weak. What is weak is the Republican majority in the Senate.

When it comes to taking on a tough fight with the Senate Democrats over judicial nominations, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist doesn't really have a majority to lead. Before the President nominated anybody, before he even took the oath of office for his second term, Senator Arlen Specter was already warning him not to nominate anyone who would rile up the Senate. Later, Senator John Warner issued a similar warning. It sounded like a familiar Republican strategy of pre-emptive surrender.

Before we can judge how the President played his hand, we have to consider what kind of hand he had to play. It was a weak hand -- and the weakness was in the Republican Senators.

Mark Levin reminds us of John McCain's disastrous deal earlier this year with the Democrats -

But McCain — who wants to be president and has now endorsed Harriet Miers — and his cadre must not escape scrutiny for their blunder.

McCain's backstabbing does not excuse President Bush. Had Bush nominated a well known, qualified judge, the blame would have been placed squarely where it belongs - On McCain and on the leftists that control the Democratic Party. But because Bush has chosen a stealth nominee, he has shifted the blame onto himself. He has protected those who would stab him in the back. Bush takes the blame instead of those who undermine the conservative fight to reestablish limited government.

- More on McCain here (peripherally related).

- Wizbang Carnival of Trackbacks.

- Captain's analysis of WaPo coverage.

The confirmation process - Thomas Sowell - A Personal Odyssey

I have previously blogged about Thomas Sowell's book, "A Personal Odyssey".

Before the dust settles on Judge Roberts' testimony in the Judiciary Committee - and while we await another nominee to endure the same process in a matter of weeks - it is appropriate to place the Democrats' behavior on the committee in context.

Dr. Sowell provides an account of his own testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1987 on behalf of Judge Bork. The Committee was ruled by Democrats at that time and they were just as idiotic as they are now:

Before beginning, I asked Senator Kennedy [the acting Chairman] if I had ten minutes for an opening statement, and he said "yes." But, eight minutes into my statement, he asked impatiently:

[Kennedy] "Can you bring that to a close?"

[Sowell] "I thought I had ten minutes."

[Kennedy] "How much more time do you need?"

[Sowell] "Two more minutes."

Because I was not looking at Kennedy during my opening statement, it was not until I saw videotapes later that I saw him yawning and stretching ostentatiously while I was talking. He also coughed loudly though the microphones were so placed that this did not come through on the television broadcast as much as it did in the room at the time.

Although my opening statement challenged much of what had been said against Bork, both by outside organizations and by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senators sidestepped all that and began all sorts of other issues during the question period. The worst was Senator Arlen Specter, whose invincible ignorance was exceeded only by his pompous certainty. My choices were to get down to his level or simply to let my disgust show. I did not want to become the issue instead of Judge Bork, so after a brief exchange, I just sat there in disgust. Some viewers got that and others didn't, with the result that I later heard the most widely disparate assessments of my testimony and received both enthusiastic congratulations from some and dismayed condolences from others.

"A Personal Odyssey", pp. 295-296.

Previous - Dr. Sowell's research disproving the left's attacks on Bork.