Conservatives 'Betrayed' By Bush with Miers Pick

Newsmax | October 5 2005

Many conservatives feel "betrayed” by President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, feeling he backed away from his vow to appoint a known strict constructionist, according to conservative icon Richard Viguerie and others.

"Congratulations are due to Ralph Neas, Nan Aron and Chuck Schumer for going toe-to-toe with President Bush and forcing him to blink,” Viguerie writes in a press release.

"Liberals have successfully cowed President Bush by scaring him off from nominating a known conservative, strict constructionist to the Court, leaving conservatives fearful of which direction the Court will go.”

Bush "desperately needed” to have an ideological fight with liberals to re-energize his political base, which is in shock and dismay over his big government policies, says Viguerie, a consultant and direct-mail specialist who helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1980.
"With their lack of strong, identifiable records, President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees seem designed more to avoid a fight with the extreme Left than to appeal to his conservative base.”

Viguerie concludes that Bush "appears willing to lose all credibility with conservative voters by failing to fulfill his campaign vow to nominate an openly Scalia- or Thomas-like justice.”

A number of other prominent conservatives have weighed in with their opposition to Miers’ nomination:
Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said conservatives are "pretty demoralized” over Miers, noting that Bush "has passed over conservative judges, including female judges, who have long and distinguished records on the federal and state supreme courts. It’s hard to interpret this as anything but flinching from a fight.”

Top radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said the Miers pick is "disappointing,” telling his listeners: "There was an opportunity here to show strength and confidence, and I don’t think this is it. It seems to me from the outset that this is a pick that was made from weakness.”

Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, also said she was "disappointed” by Bush’s pick. The expert on military personnel issues said Miers’ "record as White House Counsel is a legitimate cause for concern. Democrats and liberals who are willing to use the military for purposes of social experimentation have reason to be pleased.”

Ann Coulter, author of "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must),” told NewsMax flat-out that Miers is a "complete mediocrity.”
But other conservatives – largely evangelicals -- are coming out in support of the Miers nomination. Miers is described as an active Christian and evangelical in some press reports.

Conservative author Dr. Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of World Magazine, a Christian monthly, said: "Her personal views are consistent with that of evangelical Christians. You can tell a lot about her from her decade of service in a conservative church.

"She’s an originalist – that’s the way she takes the Bible. And that’s her approach to the Constitution as well.”

Christian legal gun Jay Sekulow also supports the nomination.

"President Bush showed exceptional judgment in naming Harriet Miers,” said Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice.

Miers "represents the conservative mainstream of judicial philosophy of interpreting the Constitution, not rewriting it.”

And Focus on the Family founder James C. Dobson issued a statement in support of Miers:

"We welcome the president’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. He pledged emphatically during his campaign to appoint judges who will interpret the law rather than create it. He also promised to select competent judges who will ‘not use the bench to write social policy.’

"To this point, President Bush’s appointments to the federal bench appear to have been remarkably consistent with that stated philosophy.”

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