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For no particular reason, and in no particular order, here are some snippets of my own private dementia. I really dislike years that end in odd numbers. Writing an odd number on the end always bugs me. This year, 2005,...

Conservatives Confront Bush Aides

Sort of looks like the FDR Republican President and his Kool-aid vendors still have a lot of work to do to get the GOP base on board - assuming that they have any concern about even bothering to do so at this point.

The conservative uprising against President Bush escalated yesterday as Republican activists angry over his nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court confronted the president's envoys during a pair of tense closed-door meetings. A day after Bush publicly beseeched skeptical supporters to trust his judgment on Miers, a succession of prominent conservative leaders told his representatives that they did not. Over the course of several hours of sometimes testy exchanges, the dissenters complained that Miers was an unknown quantity with a thin résumé and that her selection -- Bush called her "the best person I could find" -- was a betrayal of years of struggle to move the court to the right.

Although the Chief is still trying to be optimistic about the appointment, none of this exactly gives a warm glow. All there is is a (hopefully not forlorn) hope that Ms. Miers ultimately proves to be a sound constitutional originalist. Unfortunately, all there is is that hope...but not much substance at this point.

In the MLB playoffs I will pull for the Angels in the AL and the Cardinals in the NL. The best of all worlds is the Cardinals beating the Yankees in the World Series, as that would represent the team...

Howard Fineman:With George W. Bush?s presidency mired in the muck of hurricanes and doubts about the war, you?d think Democrats would be bursting with energy, eagerly expecting to regain power. But, in a roomful of well-connected Democrats the other night,...

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.

This from U.S. News:No Doubt About It, Democrats Are a pretty happy bunch these days. President Bush's poll numbers are heading south because of Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment on alleged campaign finance violations compounds...

Kristol isn't happy. I'M DISAPPOINTED, depressed and demoralized. I'm disappointed because I expected President Bush to nominate someone with a visible and distinguished constitutionalist track record--someone like Maura Corrigan, Alice Batchelder, Edith Jones, Priscilla Owen, or Janice Rogers Brown--to say...

Watertown native John Hinderacker is asking some good questions over at Power Line about Judith Miller....

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