‘With Friends Like These’ Department
Jeff Jarvis, Commentator
Self-described “liberal” Jeff Jarvis on the Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court (on CNN’s media analysis TV show “Reliable Sources“) via Crooks and Liars:
JEFF JARVIS, BUZZMACHINE.COM: …on the right…they have been shrill and they can’t figure out how the heck to get out of this mess that their boss got them into.
But I’ll criticize my end of the spectrum on the left, and say that I think the left has been cynical about this and say, well, maybe we should just back her because who is going to come later is worse.
Liberals considering whether to oppose Miers may suspect that Bush will nominate someone worse if she’s rejected.
Wow, what cynics!
People who consider the consequences of their actions are so cynical!
Jarvis continues:
What everyone should have done is said, Bush, this is the best you can do? So rather than saying that, rather than saying that we should be asking for the best of our president and our government and our Supreme Court, we try to find little nit-picky stuff to get out of this embarrassing mess. It is an embarrassing mess, and Harriet Miers should just perform career suicide at this point and do her boss a favor and say, never mind.
In other words, we need someone with more judicial experience, and if it’s Janice Rogers Brown who will vote against civil liberties 99% of the time (while Harriet Miers might vote against civil liberites 80% of the time but who knows), that is the price which Americans will have to pay for experience.
Personally, I don’t know whether it will be better in the long run if Miers is confirmed or rejected. I object to Jarvis slamming liberals trying to weigh that issue.
Repeating what I said to a similar post at C&L:
Comment by Jeff Jarvis 10.23.05 @ 6:39 pmWe all know that Miers is not qualified and for Democrats to say we’ll take her anyway is essentially a cynical and even irresponsible act. If he nominated Madonna, would you say, well, OK, it could be worse? Or should we demand better of him. I hope we still stand for quality. And I don’t care whom that irritates.
The real issue here is that Bush put up a crony and a fool and tried to make fools of all of us and we ignore that stand at our own peril.
Oh, and, I like the design, by the way.
Comment by Jeff Jarvis 10.23.05 @ 6:39 pmAmanda Toering deserves credit for the new design.
Regarding the Supreme Court, the problem is that Democrats have limited leverage.
Sure, if the Democrats had the majority in the Senate, they should demand someone qualified both in terms experience and a broad view of liberty.
But with a Republican majority, it is conceivable we could wind up with someone worse like Janice Rogers Brown if Miers is rejected.
I hope the Senate will ask Miers about the Jose Padilla case, in which Bush is claiming he can label any one of us an “enemy combatant” and imprison us for the rest of our lives:
Comment by Eric Jaffa 10.23.05 @ 7:15 pmhttps://speakspeak.org/speak-blog/2005/09/09/george-w-bush-can-imprison-anyone-without-trial-for-life/
[…] I apparently pissed off a few of my liberal goombas when I said that the Democrats have some answering to do for their cynical acceptance of Miers and here’s what I said in response to them on their blogs: We all know that Miers is not qualified and for Democrats to say we’ll take her anyway is essentially a cynical and even irresponsible act. If he nominated Madonna, would you say, well, OK, it could be worse? Or should we demand better of Bush. I hope we still stand for quality. And I don’t care whom that irritates. […]
Pingback by BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » Sadie Hawkins day on cable 10.24.05 @ 5:20 amFrom this libertarian’s perspective, the big fear being seen here is that the Democrats in the Senate are going to sit back and do nothing over Miers and let the Republicans just shoot themselves in the foot. After all, the worse things look for Bush Junior and the worse things look for the GOP, the better the chances are for the Dems in ‘06 and in ‘08.
The biggest complainers right now are the conservatives and neo-cons, who think that the Bush Imperium has blown their agenda by nominating a crony. But despite all of this complaining, there is no sign whatsoever that the GOP in the Senate would DARE go against the Imperium right now. There has yet to be a single elected Republican who has come forward and said “Mister President, you gave us a lemon of a nominee and you need to reconsider your choice.” They’re not going to say it, and Bush Junior will NOT reconsider. The Imperium will continue to push the nominee through, and the GOP members of the Senate WILL roll over and confirm her to the Supreme Court, even if they’re grumbling and muttering all the way through the process.
And that’s something that Democrats and the liberals need to get upset about! Sure they don’t have much political stroke, but that doens’t mean that they should simply roll over and play dead. They need to mount some serious resistance over this matter. Jeff Jarvis has every right to be upset at this seemingly fatalistic attitude being exhibited.
When it comes to politicans - and this applies to both Dems and Reps - the old adage of giving them enough rope to hang themselves with simply does not apply. Politicians are crafty people, and if they are given any kind of “rope”, they will use it to string US up, and then convince us that it was for our own good.
(Oh, and btw, I also like the new layout.)
Comment by David 2 10.24.05 @ 4:47 pmLine and paragraph breaks are automatic. Your e-mail address is never displayed. Basic HTML is allowed. Including more than one link makes you look like a spammer and will cause your comment to be held in moderation.