Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

Hmmmm, have you contemplated your future, ER? I'm thinkin' you've got a fantastic career as a screen writer. That's better'n a bunch o' movie credits written all over it. Heck, a few years into it, you might be able to become a conspiracy-theory producer.

To heck with this journalism stuff. Start practicing your script-writing style.
 

I doubt the White House had such a plan since they seem to lack foresight. This was just another blunder.
 

You hit the nail on the head. Only one other thing. Now when Mr. President puts forth his “Real Bad Son of a Bitch” nominee the (R)’s will be happy and the (D)’s won’t have enough steam to stop it. I wouldn’t want to play poker with him.
 

If I thought it was el presidente, I'd have more respect for him.

I think Karl Rove is the poker p;ayer -- even with his own 'nads potentially in the fire!

--ER
 

The president isn't smart enough to find his own ass when he needs to wipe!
 

And how would you know Venom? Do you check his rear for clingies?

The President was smart enough to get elected. Not many people can say that.
 

43 so far. Of course, most of them are dead. Apparently being president is bad for your health ...
 

Was just thinking this ... almost. It's just that Rove is going to be indicted, and Miers will have to move into his role, being a WH insider already and all. THEN it hit me, oh, good, grief, she IS his PERSONAL ATTORNEY. Who might be indicted????
 

Whoa. WAPO's front page isn't deep enough for the wood headline that would require!

Howdy, Patriot. I've met Mr. Bush twice, for discussions before the editorial board of a newspaper I was working at in the 1990s. He is clever. He is witty. He is not a dummy.

He is smart enough to put people in the right place to get him elected -- with buttloads of money, backed by a party so tired of Mr. Clinton they would've elected a tree stump.

But that's not really very smart.

--ER
 

I have to go with the majority of the postings, GW Bush nor his staff think that far ahead. Now ER, I know you think GW is smart, but is he intelligent, is he educated? I've met a lot uneducated street people who were inteligent but not smart. I've known more than a few "Doctor's" who were educated but niether smart nor intelligent. I know several poker players that are smart but....." If you want to run the most powerful, richest, strongest country in the world you need to be all three, and ER, you can't hire or delgate the part you are missing.
No, her nomination was an act of hubris. It was a smart nomination but not an intelligent one.
By the way if you think George W. Bush is so damn smart, I have two words for you: Sammy Sousa!
 

I hate conspiracy theories, and one of the things I hate about the Bush administration is how much they've made me entertain conspiracy theories.
 

Sammy Sousa -- that guy who can hit it outta the park with his trombone!!
 

As for Rove and Libby, no diversion would ever cover what they did. What they did was, out a NOC, and out the "Cover Company" that a dozen other NOCs were using, so they did not out just one NOC but many NOCs. Thus they not only weakend our Humint (Human Intelligence) opperations in the middle east during a time of war but put the NOCs and all of the people they have ever contacted (even the innocent ones) in those countries in mortal danger. Be assured, People are in prison because of this. People have been tortured because of this. People have died because of this. What the boys in the white house did, was Treason in the time of War. George H. Bush, former head of the CIA, said that very thing, "This is treason". It does not matter WHY they did it. Doing it is the crime. How shall they pay for these crimes? Will they pay for these crimes?
 

Yep, Anon, the same Sammy Sousa, who GW Bush trade away from the Texas Rangers.
 

As you know, according to Al Franken, at least, they will be executed.
 

And ER's point is that the treason was already known when Harriet Miers was nominated.
 

Like Clinton wagged the dog, according to that-era cynicists, going after (geez, was it Bin Laden, who was not even on the radar at that time?) with a carpet-bombing raid right before the Lewinsky thing became front-page news.
 

I don't think wagging the Miers is the same level of distraction.
 

Yeah, and Lewinsky didn't rise to the level of treason.

It all be relative.
 

BATTLE HYMN OF THE DEMOCRATS (Feel free to sing along!)

Mine Eyes have seen the bungling of that stumbling moron Bush;

he has blathered all the drivel that the neo-cons can push;

he has lost sight of all reason 'cause his head is up his tush;

The Doofus marches on

I have heard him butcher syntax like a kindergarten fool;

There is warranted suspicion that he never went to school;

Should we fault him for the policies - or is he just their tool?

The lies keep piling on.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

His wreckage will live on.

I have seen him cut the taxes of the billionaires' lone heir;

As he spends another zillion on an aircraft carrier;

Let the smokestacks keep polluting - do we really need clean air?

The surplus is now gone.

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Your safety net is gone!

Now he's got a mighty hankerin' to bomb a prostrate state;

Though the whole world knows its crazy - and the U.N. says to wait;

When he doesn't have the evidence, "We must prevaricate."

Diplomacy is done!

Oh, a trumped-up war is excellent; we have no moral bounds;

Should the reasons be disputed, we'll just make up other grounds;

Enraging several billions - to his brainlessness redounds;

The Doofus marches on!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

Glory! Glory! How he'll Screw Ya'!

THIS .... DOOFUS MARCHES ON
 

Does anyone remember the movie "Being There", with Peter Sellers? Remeber when the final scene when the Washington power brokers are at the funeral of the head power broker and they are discussing running the "Gardener" for President. At the same time the "Gardener" is walking across a lilly pond, bends down to picks a water lilly, and then sticks his cane into the water to see how deep it is and then continues to walk across the pond on top of the water. Sometimes, I swear, I see George Bush walking on water and it bothers me, like that scene bothered me.
 

drlobojo, never heard of Sammy Sousa, and I've been an editor in a sports department for a dozen years or so.

Sammy Sosa played for the Rangers and the Cubs and now the Orioles. Had a home-run chase with Mark McGwire a few years back when he was with the Cubs.

But I didn't know a Sammy Sousa ever played for the Rangers. As Anon asked, was he in the trombone section.

:-)
 

I know, I know, I know, he just knows where the rocks are.
 

That's cute teditour, Sosa vs. Sousa. Adds a lot to the conversation doesn't it. But if it makes you smile and feel good inside, glad to oblige.
 

Hell, it made me laugh outloud. Oftentimes, this blog just does that to me.

Or maybe it's gas
 

Dobson speaks:

"Self-determination bad"

October 27, 2005

Supreme Court Nominee Withdraws
by Pete Winn, associate editor


Dr. James Dobson calls it a 'wise decision.'

President Bush's second Supreme Court nominee has called it quits.

"I write to withdraw as a nominee to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States," Harriet Miers wrote in a letter President Bush made public this morning.

"I have been greatly honored and humbled by the confidence that you have shown in me, and have appreciated immensely your support and the support of many others. However, I am concerned that the confirmation process presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of the country."

Miers, Bush's chief White House counsel, was nominated Oct. 3 to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

Dr. James C. Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family Action, said the president made a "wise decision" in accepting Miers' withdrawal.

"When the president announced this nominee, I expressed my tentative support, based on what I was able to discover about her," he said. "But I also said I would await the hearings to learn more about her judicial philosophy. Based on what we now know about Miss Miers, it appears that we would not have been able to support her candidacy. Thankfully, that difficult evaluation is no longer necessary."

Dobson was particularly concerned about a speech Miers gave in 1993, made public Wednesday, in which she "sounded pro-abortion themes and expressed so much praise for left-wing feminist leaders."

Bruce Hausknecht, judicial analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said that speech, which was made to a club called Executive Women of Dallas, was alarming for its mischaracterization of the abortion debate.

"In the speech, Miers referred to 'self-determination' — which is a code phrase for abortion rights and made the incredible statement — 'Legislating religion or morality, we gave up on a long time ago.' No true conservative would agree with the statement that law does not have morality at its foundation," Hausknecht said, "Those statements raised grave concerns."
 

Well, can we think of any plausible reason why Miers was nominated at all? I do see this as a particularly hamfisted move, and felt that way from the beginning. Now, whatever troglodyte they put up there will probably get in.
The GOP has the votes, and any complaints from the other side are increasingly quashed by the ridiculous argument that the senate has no role in the debate anymore...The Dems have all but promised never to filibuster again unless it's really important, i.e. not something silly and insignificant like the supreme court...
I dunno. The checks and balances written into That Document we largely ignore were there to make sure that presidents don't get to nominate their cat for the supreme court. The GOP bitches about it now, but next time there's a Dem sitting in the oval, will there be any earnest hand-wringing about how filibustering is just plain wrong? I doubt it.
 

That James Dobson imagines that his opinion or endorsement of this decision actually matters is indeed scary.
 

Actually, the scary thing is that HE DOES matter, to this White House, on things like this!

Dobson blows a lot. But he ain't just blowing air. He is one of the main shepherds of a certain pasture full of the right-wing flock.

--ER
 

Brandon, you are on the trail of it.

Miers was indeed a punt by the President, but drawing attention away from the Libby and Rove indictments was not the reason.

The reason was to wake up the Conservative base to the point that any activity by the republicans on the "Gang of Fourteen" would be political suicide.

Now stand back and watch as the dunderhead, George W. Bush gets his Extreme, Activist, Originalist, Right Wing, Conservative judicial nominee right on through the confirmation process, and onto the Supreme Court, as the Dems weep and wail on the sidelines.

There is the motivation.
 

I think Sandra Day O'Connor should withdraw her retirement.

Mainly because W will wait a few days, and then he'll say, "OK, ya'll didn't want a woman up there, so heeeeere's....."
 

TUGBOATCAPN!!

How would y'all like that??
 

Holy s---, Tug! You just made me swaller my nicotine gum! ... Crap. I'll be up all night.

--ER
 

Don't worry, ER.

I am not sure that I could make it through the Confirmation process if I were to be nominated...

If the President calls and offers me the vacancy, I will probably refuse it.

Besides, the job doesn't pay enough for me to relocate to D.C. anyway...
 

The old bait and switch. No shady shenanigans these characters try to pull on John Q. would surprise me. This crowd puts the con in neocon.
 

From Charles Savage of Boston Globe this morning (Friday):

"Prior to nominating Miers earlier this month, Bush said he was concerned about diversity on the court in filling the seat of retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Analysts predicted yesterday that women and minority candidates will still have an edge, but having shown his commitment to diversity by nominating Miers, Bush may now feel freer to consider a white male appeals court judge."
 

Seems like presidents have nominatred their intraparty political foes in the past, to defang the opposition. Bush can't run again, of course, but who represents hiw wing of the party's main opposition? McCain? McCain for SCOTUS!

--ER
 

A brilliant read on the situation, ER, and Anonymous's song above has me chuckling still.
 

"Accompanying Bush on the weekend trip (to Camp David) was Harriet Miers, the White House legal counsel who withdrew as a candidate for the high court on Thursday in the face of withering criticism from conservatives. In accepting her withdrawal, Bush said Miers would resume her duties helping review contenders for judicial openings." (AP)

What if this leak thing goes all the way to Bush telling Cheney and it going from there? Thinking more and more W needs Miers by his side as personal legal counsel instead of her flappin' in the wind over on Capitol Hill
 

Ooooh, ER, this gave me goosebumps. I hate these assh*les for making me believe almost anything! Gaaaah.

I think they goofed, thinking Dim Son is bulletproof, but Rove'll find a way to weasel favor out of this. As someone said above, now they can *cough* "respond" to the "needs" *cough* of their base. Hell.

Great post!
 

I'm thinking His Hubris really thought he could get away with putting his crony on the Court. Then it hit him: "Ut oh, guess that special prosecutor really means bidness". Soooo, since Shrubbie couldn't muster the forces to fight on two fronts at the same time, Miers had to be tossed overboard.

Let's not kid ourselves that she withdrew on her own. Humpty-Dumpty was pushed!
 

Woo-hoo (sarcastic)! How bout that Charles Savage of The Boston Globe (above). Looks like a white male replaces Miers as nominee....