Uh Oh! It's getting nasty out there...

Harriet Miers is a good woman this is true by her actions and lifestyle according to the standards of reasonable conduct. She has overcome great odds by becoming a leading woman from Texas-in Texas and at the White House. It is not her fault that the President made a bad decision... when he passed over a great number of minority and female candidates for the nomination. In 10 years if she is passed and has done a good job as a constitutional representative-no one will remember this time period.

But the fact of the matter is that her nomination has broken the heart of the Conservative movement. It's obvious in this article by George Will:
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will1.asp We aren't like Democrats we don't suffer our pains lightly inside ourselves and cover them in an effort to put on a good face-like the member of an alcoholic family. We cleanse out our disagreements loudly, angrily - to the embarassment of our party and the delight of the Democrats.

I sat through a meeting yesterday in which Ed Gillespie fought-I mean literally fought the entire room to convince them 50 people or so-that Harriet Miers was a good nominee. No one cared. David Keene bluntly stated that 'this nomination was not our nominee-it was the White House's nominee.' It's gets worse. Ed then went on to accuse the whole room of sexism and bigotry. The whole room was stunned-Richard Lesner shot back pounding his fist on the table as he said 'No one here has said that! No one!' and Ed replied that 'I said it.' Lesner then explained angrily ' There were plenty of candidates, good conservative judges who have put in their time and worked hard and this nomination undoes all the hard work they have done.' Accusations of a prejudice against people who had not gone to Harvard or Yale flew. They might be true, but I'm just as happy with a Stanford, Berkley or Swathmore grad...Lesner finished with ' This was a stealth nomination designed to avoid a fight. '

It's true, I wanted a woman or a minority on the Supreme Court. I think it's important to have a diverse body for the highest court-one that reflects the country. But, the fact of the matter is that if equality means that a woman is just as likely to be the benefactor of cronyism as a man-I feel sick. Because as a conservative I want to see a leader who makes choices based on qualifications and ability and creating a balanced Supreme Court. The fact of the matter is that there are plenty of female judges out there for this job. People whose core values are not questionable-who would respect the constitution and not legislate from the bench.
The movement had $100 million dollars ready to help the battle. And now all that money is just being put aside for some other time.

The White House asked for help and the movement has decided there will be no problems with getting her through the Senate and if there are..that's the White House's problem now. In fact it may be interesting to see if she is passed. I am not sure she will be-the movement has flatly stated they won't accept her I repeatedly heard people saying 'Give us a militant conservative black woman'. I don't know what Bush thinks or how Harriet Miers would vote but the adminstration has lost the support of the movement. And it's going to be a long 2 1/2 years for them unless they find a way to make amends. Accusations of sexism are unfair and unwarranted-we are a party of white men, but we are also the party of women and minorities who believe in limited government, strong constitutional values, a good family, and a strong national defense.

Accusations of sexism are only a boon to the Democrats and a kick in the face at this time.

Now, I think that our arguments are the result of a strong party, and movement.