I was hoping she would withdraw.

I’m not so sure that it’s a sign of Bush fighting for his life though. If anything, it saved him some face by not having to withdraw the nomination himself of having the Republican party vote her down.

October 27, 2005 @ 8:07 am | Comment

Yup. I guess he’ll just have to settle for Justice Ann Coulter. Or maybe that guy who thinks the Geneva convention is quaint.

October 27, 2005 @ 9:28 am | Comment

You know, I think it may be a sign of fighting for his life, but it’s only more ominous – nothing good – because the people he’s fighting are a group of well organised conservatives that would like to send the U.S. back to the stone-age on issues like scientific inquiry and education. I’m getting more and more scared the more I see it. One thing I’ll say for Bush – he may be an idiot, but he’s not as bad as Pat Robertson et. al. and at least he put Roberts up for nomination and not a Thomas-like figure. I have no idea what the country will be like when I return to live there in a year. feeling very hesitant.

October 27, 2005 @ 9:58 am | Comment

because the people he’s fighting are a group of well organised conservatives that would like to send the U.S. back to the stone-age on issues like scientific inquiry and education.

Last time I checked, over 50% of Americans hold family-friendlyalues and the trend is only going continue.

Harriet Miers was a clearly an unwise nomination, and I’m glad she has the sensibility to withdraw herself before further damaging the President, especially now that the White House is embroiled in the leak case, which I’m afraid will eventually lead to the indictment of Karl Rove, howerver unjust I think that is.

This is a case the criminalizaton of politics that has become the left’s favorite weapon.

In any case, let’s all hope all the best for Karl, as he elected our President. I frankly think that the country owes him a great deal.

October 27, 2005 @ 5:29 pm | Comment

Who is the imposter “Scooter Libby?” What preposterous ideas. Why don’t you come out behind your mask and stand-up like a man or a woman instead of a bobble-head?

Laowai: don’t be too doom and gloom, the correction back to a more sensible body politic has already started. From what I see progressives have started to make noise protesting and are beginning to organize. Letters to Congresspeople protesting Bush’s outrageous nominations are a good step; a storm needs to be kicked up and the Demos in Congress need to be given some backbone and a kick in the tush to fight for a fair and balanced judiciary and public policy.

It is amazing to see “conservatives” are so organized they can stop their own party president in a few days. Partially, I think Bush is coming home to roost. I can see that all his false promises, lies and mendacity cannot be acceptable to the bible people and conservatives.

My hope is that Bush goes down in huge ball of fire, so that he has no positive legacy and his administration is only remembered as openly and notoriously disasterous for America. We need to know why all of this past 5 years has happened, was it Bush’s lack of ability, his essential character of dishonesty or something more to do with the power build-up of the religious right and conservatives? Not as an academic exeercise, but for policy formulation and to get progressives and liberal back into the points of power to represent the people, not just the wealthy or business interests.

Gordon The big headed boy is recovering from his head surgery and pneumonia, the doctors have said he does not have TB and what ever they thought might be a heart problem seems to have resolved itself. I have set up collection boxes at Flyhigh and bar just outside the Traffic Hotel. If you have friends in Chengdu, please ask them to go there to make donations. While the boy is doing better he has a protein deficiency that is costing RMB600 a day for protein injections.

October 27, 2005 @ 9:37 pm | Comment

Has there been a Martyn sighting yet?

October 27, 2005 @ 11:11 pm | Comment

A chance to watch the Republican throat-slashers fall upon one of their own sounds like something I’d like a ring-side seat for, or maybe a place in a tour bus like at a Chinese tiger park (do not miss the recent ImageThief account & photos!). But, in the case of Harriet Miers, I didn’t find it gratifying in the least.

No matter what her personal politics are, I really admired the way she endured the sometimes downright vicious criticisms that were splashed on her. Yet from everything I came across, it appeared she came through the ordeal with composure and real dignity.

She struck me as a woman who, by virtue of her intelligence and competence, had broken a number of gender barriers in good-old-boy Texas culture – not a small achievement. By all accounts she is modest, ladylike professional, and apparently a very nice person – someone completely undeserving of the public scorn and nastiness that was woven in with the legitimate concerns over her nomination.

This episode was a good illustration of a major difference in contemporary political tactics between the American right and left. Of course I’m speaking in the broadest of generalities here, but by and large most of the left’s concerns were over what made her qualified for the job and how she might perform in it, while the remarks questioning her intelligence and the like emanated primarily from the professional character assassins on the right.

Remarks about her make-up and attire were especially dismaying and smacking of chauvinism, no matter what side of the aisle they came from. I have no problem with jokes about someone who is over-the-top in some way, e.g. Trent Lott’s odd hair piece, or Katherine Harris’ theatrical make-up. However, I thought that for a 60-year-old female legal professional from Texas, there was really nothing questionable in Harriet Miers’ appearance. I really don’t care if my Supreme Court Justices are seldom sighted picking through Ferragamos on Fifth Avenue.

I wonder if any Republican riders on the tiger park bus felt a tinge of unease when witnessing their party’s throat-slashers eviscerate one of their own, in the manner that seems to have become the ugly hallmark of this administration’s style.

October 28, 2005 @ 12:00 am | Comment

I hope you notice there were no such put-downs of her here. My heart goes out to her, because she was set up. It was nice seeing the GOP implode, but it was sad to see Harriet Miers become the sacrificial lamb. I’m glad she withdrew for only one reason, i.e., she’s incompetent for the job and the last thing we need is a Bush crony in a lifetime appointment of such magnitude and import.

The Republicans’ fury over Miers had little to do with Miers herself, but was the culminatiopn of their rage (well-deserved) against Bush on a number of issues. She was a the wrong place at the wrong time, and nominating her was, according to his own people, an act of monumental stupidty and arrogance. Too bad the poor lady had to be the victim. That’s politics.

October 28, 2005 @ 12:11 am | Comment

And Gordon, i would say yes, Bush is fighting for his political life. When you consider all that is going on currently, from the Plame investigation to Iraq to the economy to the defeat of his No. 1 goal (Social Security “reform”) to the tidal wave of criticism from his base over Miers, suffering such a major setback definitely pushes Bush further in the direction of ruling from a bunker, not the White House.

October 28, 2005 @ 12:14 am | Comment

What to say when the Republicans inevitably start whining about Democratic opposition to the next nominee:

“Didn’t Harriet Miers deserve an up-or-down vote?”

C&P it now and save it for future use. You’ll need it.

October 28, 2005 @ 6:02 am | Comment

I hope you notice there were no such put-downs of her here.

I did notice, and it’s to the Duck Pond’s credit.

The Republicans’ fury over Miers had little to do with Miers herself, but was the culminatiopn of their rage (well-deserved) against Bush on a number of issues. She was a the wrong place at the wrong time, and nominating her was, according to his own people, an act of monumental stupidty and arrogance. Too bad the poor lady had to be the victim. That’s politics.

I agree completely. It was unclear to me how she was qualified for such a lofty position.

She was unwitting roadkill.

October 28, 2005 @ 7:02 am | Comment