ConfirmThem

By Carol Platt Liebau Posted in Analysis and Predictions — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The New York Times announces that there has been a failure of the "Bush code" -- referring to the carefully phrased allusions the President supposedly uses to speak to the Religious Right -- given that the Religious Right is supposedly deserting him in droves over the Miers nomination.

Not so fast. The only vocal opponent they've found is the Rev. Donald Wildmon, who was inclined to be critical of the President already. In that, he resembles Patrick Buchanan and Trent Lott -- both among the first out of the box to savage the President, both with their own reasons for doing so.

It's worth noting that two of the biggest figures in the Religious Right -- Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention -- have been two of the President's staunchest defenders. And the fact is that they influence many, many more people in the President's base than even the conservative superstar pundits who have been so eloquent in their denunciations of Ms. Miers.

But don't expect the Times to know that -- while their rolodexes may extend to people like Peggy Noonan and Bill Kristol, they sure as heck don't include Richard Land. (Which, incidentally, is their loss. Mr. Land was on "Meet the Press" this morning, and absolutely demolished the liberal stereotype that people of faith lack "sophistication." Land, a Princeton grad, was one of the few people on any side who could go toe-to-toe with Pat Buchanan in debate).

The article also alludes to the conservative senators who have hinted that they might oppose Ms. Miers. As difficult as the questions are that she'll have to answer, they'll have a few of their own. By their opposition -- clearly on ideological grounds -- would they validate the Democrat senators' position that ideology is a valid gound on which to oppose an otherwise qualified nominee? And, fairly or not, don't they run the risk of looking a bit like the Chuck Schumers of the right -- people who are doing the bidding of ideological interest groups at the expense of a nominee who looks, to the vast mass of Americans, like an unobjectionable and qualified pick for the Court?