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Professor Schaff below gives a very serious reason why Chad's Chicken Hawk argument is dreadful. It is, among, other things, a classical fallacy, referred to as an ad hominem argument. In that form, you argue that X must be wrong...

Getting a little help from some creative cropping. You know that it has to be difficult to get good, front page photos to run for your newspaper when about every sign and banner carries a "F*ck Bush" or some other...

Then I'm spending my evenings watching you know what on TV....

H/T to Blackfive on this one.

This situation reminds me of a joke about the Minnesota Vikings that fans console themselves with...about a fan who died and went down below. He enjoyed the heat after the salubrious climate of MinnesotaMinnesnowta, so the devil made it cold instead. The next day he was happier than ever, proclaiming "The Vikings won the Superbowl!

Just as unlikely, is the following amazing report:
Insurgents in Iraq are drawing criticism for terrorism

Human Rights Watch, which often has criticized alleged abuses by U.S. forces in Iraq, turned its attention in its latest report to insurgent groups like al-Qaida in Iraq and Ansar al-Sunnah that have claimed responsibility for attacks in mosques, markets, bus stations and other civilian areas in Iraq.

Maybe it really IS a cold day in hell!

The more time that passes since President Dubya announced his choice of Harriet Miers for the SCOTUS, the more concerns become apparent.

Firstly, the disturbance in the political force has been noted all the way on the other side of the pond:

Bush nomination for swing vote with Supreme Court infuriates supporters

President George W Bush nominated a trusted aide for the key seat on America's top court yesterday but the choice infuriated his supporters on the Right far more than his Democratic foes.

No s--t, Sherlock! As to why...read on!

Ann Coulter, in her inimitable style of invective, PREDICTED the probable type of appointment that might be expected from Bush, based on his political record:

BOB SHRUM WITH A GOOD CAUSE

Now Bush has Sandra Day O'Connor's seat to fill. For those conservatives confident that Bush won't betray them, let's review Bush's other ideas about what constitutes a good Republican....
In 2002, Bush backed liberal Richard Riordan in the Republican gubernatorial primary in California against conservative Bill Simon....
In 2004, Bush backed liberal Republican Arlen Specter over conservative Pat Toomey in the Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania....
In 2004, Bush backed Mel Martinez for the open Senate seat in Florida and asked the magnificent Katherine Harris not to run against him, so she graciously bowed out. Martinez has since called on Bush to shut down Guantanamo. What's Spanish for "buyer's remorse"?...
This year, rumors have it that Bush is again discouraging the magnificent Harris not to run for the Senate....
Also this year, Bush is backing developmentally-disabled Lincoln Chafee over the only Republican in the race, Stephen Laffey, Harvard MBA and mayor of Cranston, RI....

As if that isn't enough to raise the hackles of a real conservative, that list doesn't even take into account the administrations domestic policy, which has acquiesced (when not actually promoting) a constant expansion of the role and power of the Federal government.

Most telling of all is Coulter's recap of the situation of the history of the GOP "establishment" (including the Bushes)with regards to the rise and eventual victory of Ronaldus Magnus. Check it out for yourself. HINT: The GOP establishmentarians were NOT very big on Reagan at all!

Her conclusion absolutely nails down the biggest difference between the gipper and the Dubya:

The secret to Reagan's greatness was he didn't need a bunch of high-priced Bob Shrums to tell him what Americans thought. He knew because of his work with General Electric, touring the country and meeting real Americans. Two months a year for eight years, Reagan would give up to 25 speeches a day at G.E. plants ? a "marination in middle America," as one G.E. man put it. Reagan himself said, "I always thought Hollywood had the wrong idea of the average American, and the G.E. tours proved I was right."

Because of these tours, Reagan knew ? as he calmly told fretful advisers after the Grenada invasion ? "You can always trust Americans." The G.E. tours completely immunized Reagan from the counsel of people like Karl Rove, who think the average American is a big-business man who just wants his taxes cut and doesn't care about honor, country, marriage or the unborn.

Michelle Malkin has a pointed and graphical MESSAGE TO THE WHITE HOUSE:

She goes on to note: "Guess it's too late." Indeed.

Just to ice the conservative s--t cake:
Democrats are relieved about Miers pick from Tim Chapman posting at Townhall.com, noting a positive reaction from the likes of Bob Beckel, Sen. Charlie "No-guns" Shumer, and Sen. "Dingy" Harry Reid. This as much as any of the above, makes the Chief think that we may be in a heap of trouble on this one!

On a more serious (if possible) note, Randy Barnett transplanted from The Volokh Conspiracy writes in the WSJ Opinion Journal based of Hamilton's writing in Federalist #76:

"To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity. . . . He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure." (The italics are mine.)

You have to go read the piece - the Chief won't attempt to recap this, but it's sure worth a look. Also worth a look are posts here and here over across the line in Minnesnowta from Powerline - suffice it to say they aren't real impressed with this appointment either.

There's much more than this out there - Emperor Misha's Rottweiler is snarling, but Captain Ed, while not fully pleased seems to be cautiously optimistic. The Chief is trying to be also, but it's hard not to be pessimistic given the weight noted above. I hope Cap'n Ed is right, but fear he may not be. Again, time will tell.

A Lessons from Henry II

One of the arguments being bruited about, even by the President in this mornings presser, in defense of the Mier appointment is that in spite of a relatively lack of documentation to establish the views of the nominee, this is not anything to be concerned about, since the President has a long standing personal knowledge of her, and based on this, has full confidence that she will make decisions based on an originalist judicial attitude.

It was similar personal knowledge and assurance that let Henry II to appoint Thomas a Beckett, his long-time friend, confidante, and chancellor as Archbishop of Canterbury, in an effort to subject the rulings of the ecclesiatical court system to the monarch. Said attempt failed, when Beckett discovered and acted on a new-found spirit of independence once he was esconced in his new office.

The rest, as they say, is history, which led eventually to Beckett's murder, and Henry on his knees before the Pope to gain absolution.

Bush had better hope, that HIS judgement of his personal attorney is more accurate than Henry's was of his chancellor, or it could well be the death knell of constitutional government in the United States.

Excerpts from today's Argus Leader:Air Force officials are looking at Ellsworth Air Force Base as a possible location for a military financial-services operation that could mean the addition of more than 700 jobs, Rep. Stephanie Herseth said. Although no decisions...

From CNN: Oil prices fell in an unusual trading session Sunday after a weakened Hurricane Rita struck the U.S. Gulf Coast away from a major refining hub in Houston, although at least two big refineries were damaged. November Brent crude...

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