ConfirmThem

By Quin Posted in Uncategorized — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

I have a column coming out tomorrow that I hope to distribute widely, but for now let me give the less formal, more impressionistic response that this nomination deserves: The choice confirms the longstanding impression that George W. Bush is, by inclination, comfortable only within his self-selected "club" of people who, it so happens, think he is the club's natural leader. This White House has long been arrogant and insular, and long criticized for it, and now the habit has become so ingrained that all that is left in Bush's comfort zone is for him to play with within his own ever-narrowing circle. And really, what this looks like is sheer petulance. It's as if Bush is saying: "What do you mean I can't appoint my little buddy Alberto? Who are you to question me; after all, I made Alberto, so of course I know what I'm talking about when I say he's just super-duper. Okay, well, I'll show you: If I can't have Alberto, just TRY to stop me from appointing the lady who first INTRODUCED me to Alberto. This is my White House and my nomination and I'll show you who's boss."
What a pathetic...
What a pathetic example this is. But, in retrospect, it should not have been surprising. By now it should be well known on this blog that I long ago predicted a Roberts/Owen one-two nomination punch. Now what was the REASONING I used for that prediction? Specifically (you could look it up) because Bush is so prone to staying within his own little circle. I noted then, well before Roberts was picked, that Bush knew Roberts personally from back in the first Bush administration, when W. was a key, unpaid adviser (and enforcer) for his father. I figured he would thus pick Roberts over, say, Alito or Garza, specifically because of that previous familiarity with him. Likewise with Owen: It is well known that Bush and Laura and Owen used to have a big dinner together at least once a year, and that they consider her at the very least a very friendly personal acquaintance, part of their Texas semi-inner circle. That, I argued, would give Owen the advantage over Jones and Brown and others. Well, he didn't pick Owen, but I completely believe the reports on this site that up until last Tuesday or Wednesday he INTENDED to pick her, until he realized the nomination would create too big a nomination battle from the Dems without doing enough to excite the base.
So if he couldn't have Gonzales, and he couldn't have Priscilla Owen, he obviously was feeling like he wasn't in charge anymore, and he wanted darn well to feel like he was in charge and show the world that he COULD, dammit, he COULD appoint somebody he likes personally.
So forget that she isn't as qualified as Alito, or Luttig, or Batchelder, or Jones, or Sykes, Boggs, Corrigan or even Larry Thompson. (Or Ted Olson, or..... you get the picture.) Forget that her best qualification is that she goes all moonie-eyed over him. No, on the other hand, DON'T forget that. That's a point in her favor, in his self-regarding book.
This nomination is a travesty. It's an insult not to conservatives, but to Americans -- especially after showing us what a truly qualified nominee looks like, in the person of John Roberts.
This nomination should make us all sick.