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October 31, 2005
Alito Tells The Tale
If anyone doubted who now controls the Republican Party, it was made crystal clear this morning.
Just a few days after President Bush's nominee to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, withdrew her nomination in the face of total revolt among the religious right wing, Mr. Bush gave the faithful what they wanted -- Samuel Alito, Jr.
Miers was a question mark, with no real paper trail to even intimate at a judicial philosophy, and rather un-SCOTUS-like qualifications. She was torn to shreds, not by Democrats seeking to further damage a wounded president, but by "the base". Funny how the religious right wing, always so quick to pounce on "liberal elites", snobbishly turned up its nose at Ms. Miers' lack of pedigree.
While Miers was a bit of an enigma, and feared by the fundies to be another Souter, Alito, or "Scalito" as he is jokingly called in reference to his similarity to Justice Scalia, is prima facie a true believer. His confirmation process promises to be contentious, with the outcome far from certain.
President Bush has obviously calculated that he needs a good fight to rally that wayward base, since clearly that's all he has left politically.
This, from the same man who claimed to be a uniter, not a divider, who worked with Bob Bullock and Pete Laney while Governor of Texas, and fooled folks into believing he was a moderate.
It's now obvious who's got control of the GOP, and just how politically weak this president is. Three years is a long time to be a lame duck.
Posted by houtopia at October 31, 2005 02:13 PM