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Wednesday Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Wed Oct 05, 2005 at 12:16:44 PM EST
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We haven't had one of these in a while and I need to get back to work. Have fun.

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    Wednesday Open Thread | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#1)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    Something happen Monday nite or Tuesday morning, thereabouts? Read these Talkleft.com headlines, most-recent first. See how the coverage turns positive all of a sudden, as if by request: RECENT POSTS Harriet Miers: Strong Supporter of Indigent Defense O'Connor and Miers: Peas in a Pod? Harriet Miers: Pro-Life and Pro-Roe v. Wade? Miers Is Not Unqualified From Lack of Judicial Experience Harriet Miers Writing on Criminal Justice
    (Read the whole thing, it should bring some measure of comfort to criminal defense lawyers. Here's some of it:)
    Things I Did and Didn't Say About Harriet Miers
    I do not think Harriet Miers is controversial or should be rejected.
    Interview With Harriet Miers' Pastor
    The radio host conducting the interview says it's proof that Ms. Miers is anti-abortion, but the interview doesn't bear that out...I'm also getting tired of the abortion debate. It's not the only important issue.
    Bush Didn't Ask Miers About Abortion Views Miers: The Ultimate Faith-Based Nomination
    In order to accept Ms. Miers, evangelicals will have to place blind faith in the promise by Cheney and Bush that she's one of them.
    EARLIER POSTS Miers In On 8/6/01 "Briefing" on Bin Laden Memo Miers' Law Firm Paid $22M to Settle The Bad and the Good
    Above all, Miers is loyal to President Bush. It’s hard to imagine her putting faithfulness to the Supreme Court above faithfulness to the Bush family.
    --- Either the D's have boxed themselves in on this and are enlisting support from their media and blog types to dampen the rank-and-file anger, or you guys have finally seen the wisdom of the ras and are comin' over to join me. Well, never let it be said that I ain't an optimist: Welcome, I'll put some coffee on!

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    ras- If Meir loses the nomination who would you expect would be next, and would you support him or her?

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    Ras, Share some java and surf the news channels for laughs. What a circus! Meanwhile, how's the latest "major combat operation in Iraq" going? And what is it with Bush and middle aged, unmarried women?

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#4)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    This morning I watched one of my favorite movies, _Lonely are the Brave_ (1962) with Kirk Douglas. I don't know of a movie that has a more painful-to-watch last scene. You want to take your eyes off the screen so badly, but you just cannot. And then that last image of his hat in the middle of the rain-drenched, car infested highway. Those who haven't seen it, keep an eye on the Western Channel. They're showing it a lot this month. Great stuff.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#5)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    Squeaky, ras- If Meir loses the nomination who would you expect would be next, and would you support him or her? If HM fails to win confirmation, Bush will not dare go w/another stealth nominee. He'll go w/a tried and true jurist: Luttig, McConnel, Alito or some such. Maybe even Jones or JRB cuz the only way HM loses is if some RINOs join in the defeat, and they won't wanna do that twice in a row if they can help it. But I'd bet on the first bunch: i.e. as close to Roberts as one can get. Just my humble opinion, but it's pretty hard to see Bush trying a 2nd stealth if the first one doesn't make it. That said, I think HM will get thru unless the D's oppose her. It'll be close, and the R's will grumble, but as long as the D's don't fb, she should be in. But if the D's do fb, dunno, cuz the RINOs might not wanna break a fb over HM. That's what lukewarm support'll do for you. But the pressure will sure be on to do something. What if Bush, at that pt, said: "OK, RINOs, I agree to withdraw HM and nominate Luttig in her stead, but only if you guys agree to break the fb first via a rules change, so that I know that this won't happen again." I think the RINOs would take that offer under those circumstances. They'd be off the hook, an obviously solid candidate would be confirmed, and the R base'd be thrilled all around. They'd be heroes. See what I meant in the prev thread about the D's being damned either way? Filibuster now and Bush can do the above. Fail to fb now, and HM sets the new standard by which Bush could nominate, say, Luttig, to replace RBG. You guys are in a box, and your own side has put you there.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    Ras, no mystery. The negative posts about Miers were written by Last Night in Little Rock and say so. The positive and neutral ones were written by me.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:42 PM EST
    If you need a laugh....check this out.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#8)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    TL, True. You personally have been completely positive on Miers to date. I'm just surprised, shocked really, at your all-good-news support of the nominee. I don't think it's just your personal contact with her alone - tho I have no reason to doubt your word that that helps - cuz I see Kos & Atrios at the same time going out of their way to be as supportive as one could possibly expect from them. More, even. Very strange. Good news and great vibes all around from the side that usually criticizes much more harshly over much less than this. I really do see the Dems in a box. I think the best they can do is grin & bear it (as you counsel) and just plain hope that Bush doesn't get the chance to replace RBG with Luttig sooner, rather than later. If it's sooner, look out, cuz your side must know that by letting HM thru you are pretty much giving up holding out after that against a stronger nominee such as Luttig. (I use RBG & Luttig as case examples only, btw. It could also be Alito for Stevens, or McConnell for Souter or whatever) If an RBG retirement instead comes later (and of course ditto for Stevens, Breyer, Souter) you might be able to contain your losses w/in the base, as it will older news in the world of politics by then. But it's a big if. Get it wrong and the D leadership will have an open rebellion on its hands, and all of it caused by the timing of one person's retirement. Such little things. Such vital little things. You better hope none of the lib justices needs to step down in the next year or so.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    Ras- Have you considered what it will do to the GOP if 1) HM is confirmed 2) HM turns out to be far from a Scalia/Thomas clone like the RWNJ's are screaming for? With both legislative leaders under indictment, with W. at 40, seems to me the GOP just might be in a box themselves. I expect the nutters among the GOP just might decide as they have in the past not to support a party that won't provide what they want. What happens if they stay home in '06 because HM wasn't what they wanted? "Fiscal Responsibility" talk from this WH ain't going to do it, they've shown their true colors already....borrow and spend. At lease tax and spend doesn't leave debt for the kids to clean up. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the circus.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#10)
    by ras on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    Adept, All true. If HM turns out to be another Souter, look out below. Then again, it might just *force* Bush to redeem himself with an obviously solid pick, such as Luttig. But I think it more likely that HM is gonna be just fine to the R base. Bush has worked with her for years, and talked endlessly with her as she helped him pick appellate judges, John Roberts etc. Bush doesn't have to ask her, as a candidate for SCOTUS, about her views on anything. Of course he knows them already: it's what the two of them have been doing together, in detail, for years. Go ahead, nominate your wife, Adept, but after that you can't ask her about her views. Yeah, right, like you didn't already know. The only way I see her disappointing the R's is if Bush picked her mostly for her philosophy on one issue - say, for sake of arg, executive authority - in spite of her views in another area - say, gay marriage. In the above scenario, if she issues a ruling in favor of gay marriage, right outta the gate, then she could end up ticking off the base at the wrong time. You only get one chance to make a first impression. Other than that low-probability situation, tho, I gotta think Bush knows her legal views and philosophy better than anyone, and chose her accordingly.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    The main point about Miers is that WE DON'T HAVE IMPEACHMENT RIGHTS any more. We also don't have a legal election system. No impeachment rights, no fair and legal elections, no Constitution. Given the extensive evidence that Bush & his team are not up to completing their illegal actions with anything like the credence of the American people, the Dems -- far from being 'boxed in' -- are now officially standing back and watching the DEBACLE from a safe distance. When the facts finally come out, as people find out those facts, as they are, the R party is losing its seedcorn for the next half-century. That's what happens when you let a PIG LOOSE in the crib. So why should Reid bother to oppose? This is not the best jurist Bush could pick -- it's not even on the same planet. It's yet another Brownification of the BushSCOTUS, five members of which (1 retiring) smeared the blood of US soldiers and a 100,000 civilians on their black Sunday suits. And TL, the history of the SCOTUS is a piebald affair. The fact that some less qualified jurists have sat and become heroes does not mean that ANY less qualified jurist will become a legend in the Court. Thomas has proven that, and Miers will probably be a one-shot corporate escape clause, a job she can probably handle, given enough advice from Scaife.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    Rita is alive and well on MSNBC. I just got back from doing a lightening quick (30 second) segment on her show.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#15)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    Hmmmmm Just shows how well I keep up with the media... But wasn't she on Court TV??

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#17)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    DA - Always glad to have you make my points.

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#18)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    Karl Rove's Latest Trick: Getting Bush To Hit The Bottle
    George: OK, Karl. I'm sold. Like you say, we need a drastic solution. Time to act. George: Let's start. Right now. Make mine a Jack Daniels. Karl: Here's looking at you, Mr President. Hey, why not take the whole bottle, sir? Didn't you use to be able to do half a bottle in one gulp? George: Now you're talking. They used to call me the Bottomless Pit. Down the hatch, Turd Blossom.
    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#20)
    by Patrick on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:43 PM EST
    I was speaking with a S.F. based defense attorney yesterday. He told me that Tony Serra had been sentenced to two years for the tax evasion charge. He also said that because of federal prison policy, Serra would have to serve his time in a county facilty. Any truth to this? If it's true, can he still do that time on his head? If true would this qualify for the misconduct category?

    Re: Wednesday Open Thread (none / 0) (#21)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:44 PM EST
    Tony Serra headed back to prison Dont know about the county prison thing. He wont have to do any time on his head. He has a new hip so now he can stand. I dont think it falls under misconduct. Obscenity maybe. j/k

    Wednesday Open Thread | 17 comments (17 topical)