To say that you are being left out of the Republican party because those bits of the party who have worked since Goldwater to make it strong won the argument about Miers is an exaggeration. Many of you changed to the Republicans after 9/11 because you believed that we represented a stronger vision of what to do in regards to Terrorists. That vision did not come out of a vacuum. It came about because many of those people you now vilify as being the epitome of evil fought back the Rockefeller wing of the Republican party. You lost an argument with your brother. You didn’t lose a war with the terrorists.

Bush is not an anti-intellectual, and you do him a disservice when you lump him into that category. He has put some of the most brilliant Conservative intellectuals into positions of great power. I submit that he is a stealth intellectual who loves for his opponents to misunderestimate him.

I do agree with you about the NRO, they are past useful. Have been for quite sometime. It was most recently seen by the shameful performance of Podhoretz in regards to Able Danger. But on the otherhand Andrew McCarthy is a gem in the war on terror. As is Jed Babbin, Frank Gaffney and some very few others. Jonah Goldberg can be a lethally sharp wit when its required to cut down some leftist to size. But by and large they are very much full of themselves.

Pierre

The Noonan piece was pretty bad. Here’s a thought: she took several months off last year to work for the Bush campaign and made a big deal about how she was spending her savings to further this cause. How successful was this venture? For the first innaugural she was overlooked as speech writer for Kristol and Krauthammer, and as far as I can tell has not gotten any additional attention from the White House. She’s been persistently gloomy ever since.

And she should watch it. The last person who went on about the malaise in American didn’t do so well.

Great comment. NRO has one problem – we won’t sit down and shut up. We also will not forget. I too have turned off the AM talk shows. They are all way too giddy about what they did. BTW, we turned off Rush when he went on a rant about children. The guy is a cold fish about children. One has to wonder why we listen to him – a person who dislikes the thought of parenting – and ignore President Bush (who has twins like us).

You’ve expressed what I’ve been feeling ever since Miers was nominated. I was surprised at the venom and ridicule directed at her from the start. Miers was savaged for not passing a conservative litmus test. I thought Republicans were against litmus tests?

From day 1, Laura Ingraham ranted against Miers and how the true conservatives had been working for 30 years blah, blah, Buckley, blah, blah, blah, Reagan. Well, that’s not me. I turned off her show and I don’t see any reason to turn it back on. It was a moment of great clarity. Ingraham, NRO, Will, etc. had their Jacques Chirac moment and told the rest of us to sit down and shut up. I became a Bush Republican. Like Miers, I’m not one of them (thank God!).

Pres. Bush has nominated some amazing conservatives to the bench and Miers should have been given a chance to be heard. NRO, et al, trashed Bush and Miers for 3 weeks and now claim that it’s over and we should all just move along. There is the obligatory “Miers is nice woman, I’m sure she’s a good lawyer but she should have known she was unfit for the court” talking points. How patronizing!

Even more amazing, after trashing Bush for not being sophisticated enough to make good SCOTUS choices, they then put forth their list of appropriate nominees. After humiliating Bush and his friend, I don’t see the President being pushed into selecting one of their nominees. I don’t see it happening. It’s possible that the NRO crowd has ensured that Luttig, McConnell, etc. will never be nominated.

I now understand that when the pundits argue that conservatives should be on the court they actually mean ivy-league conservatives who are one of them. I’m one of Bush’s people and I’m looking forward to his next nomination. It’s certain to be a doozie!

There is no way I am including you in this. You are no George Will!

Dang, when you grow up in ranch country, there’s only so much of that pap you can endure.

Oh well, I’m just hoping Bush nominates Ken Starr. He’s extremely well qualified and would make a great justice.

“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”

Perhaps one of the most brilliant quotes in modern political history.

Pierre Legrand

I do not think you are being included in the criticism. Unless you posted Bush is an idoit!

My problem with the Miers nomination was simple. We cannot take a chance on an unknown when there are so many terrific jurists who are NOT unknown. It was not personal. Waiting till the confirmation hearings would have been too late as the momentum to getting her nominated would have been overwhelming.

I relish the debate that will occur should President Bush nominate someone along the lines of Scalia or Bork or Thomas. Apparently he does not relish the debate preferring instead to try and stealth his way past the debate. Sorry but I agree with Rush that he is as much a leader of a movement as he is a President. By avoiding the fight with the left he hurt the movement. We can defend our ideas. The left cannot.

Furthermore I believe that President Bush may yet go down as one of the greatest Presidents to have lived. This doesn’t mean that I think he is above criticism. He has failed to get the borders under control. He has failed to get spending under control. Norman Mineta is still in power. Tenet recieved a freedom medal. Able Danger is being covered up by his own Dept of Defense.

Having said all of that President Bush is probably the canniest political figure to have walked the earth in the last 100 years. He plays games within games and is a master of rope a dope and bluffing.

I thank god every night that he is our President. But I still reserve my right to disagree with him.

Pierre Legrand