Post by Moses on Oct 29, 2005 22:06:56 GMT -5
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Harriet Miers
Powerful Right Hook Takes Out Nominee
* Supreme Court | The conservative wing of the Republican Party wins its battle with the president over Harriet Miers.
By Janet Hookand Peter Wallsten, Los Angeles Times
October 29, 2005
WASHINGTON
By taking a lead role in sinking the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers, the conservative wing of the Republican Party declared its independence from the White House and asserted its claim to steer the party rightward both now and in the post-George W. Bush era.
Miers' surrender Thursday followed a steady drumbeat of criticism from conservative activists and intellectuals who refused to take their president's word that Miers was on their side.
By the time the plug was pulled, Bush's longtime lawyer and friend faced the remarkable spectacle of conservative activists -- who had been so crucial to Bush's re-election -- launching Web sites calling for her withdrawal, airing television ads against her and filling blogs with screeds comparing her to liberal feminists like Gloria Steinem. That pressure, in turn, made it hard for conservative Republican senators to embrace Miers.
As her nomination was shelved, some conservatives labored to hide their glee.
"I would urge my fellow conservatives to avoid the temptation to crow about it or take credit," said conservative activist Gary Bauer.
In the end, the Miers episode marked the most public display yet of the struggle within the GOP to define the party's image and ideology. It also became an early battle for control of the party once Bush fades from leadership.
The broad conservative movement, from evangelicals to economic and intellectual conservatives, is "only going to be emboldened by getting Harriet Miers' scalp," said Tony Fabrizio, a Republican pollster. "They stared down the White House and won."
The message was clear early on to ambitious Republicans who wish to succeed Bush in the White House: With the exception of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., senators aspiring to run for president were among those asking the most skeptical questions about Miers.
Conservatives also sent a message to the White House to be more attentive to the party's right flank during Bush's three remaining years in office, said David Keene, president of the American Conservative Union. "If they want the conservatives to play on their team, they have to treat them like members of the team rather than outsiders," Keene said.
However, the episode may also pose risks for the GOP if it fuels the perception among swing voters that, as Democrats claim, the party is beholden to its most extreme elements.
"It was the very extreme wing of the president's party, and that brought about the withdrawal," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "If the president continues to listen to that extreme wing on judicial nominations or everything else, it can only spell trouble for his presidency and for America."
The criticism over Miers opened the biggest chasm between Bush and his political base of his entire presidency, and it threatened to become as politically toxic as the conservative rebellion against his father's presidency in 1990 after the first President Bush broke his "no-new-taxes" pledge.
Conservative opposition was not the only factor that doomed Miers' nomination: Republicans say that her poor performance in meetings with senators, broader questions about her qualifications and Bush's weakened political state also were important forces. But Miers would have been better equipped to weather those challenges if she had not been turned into a conservative punching bag, people who followed the process said.
When Bush instead chose someone whose views were not well documented, the reaction on the right was swift.
Just hours after the announcement, Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard magazine, appeared on television and proclaimed himself "depressed and demoralized."
Conservative activist Manuel Miranda, head of a group promoting Bush's judicial appointments, circulated an e-mail calling Miers the "least qualified nominee since Abe Fortas," President Johnson's failed nominee for chief justice.
One measure of the clout of conservative activists and evangelical groups was how hard the White House worked to win them over. Even before the nomination was announced, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove called James Dobson, the influential evangelical and founder of Focus on the Family, to urge his support for Miers. The day she was nominated, Vice President Dick Cheney was dispatched to defend the choice on the radio show of conservative icon Rush Limbaugh.
But Miers continued to be swamped by criticisms from conservative intellectuals, columnists and scholars — a barrage that took on a new dimension because it was carried out largely on the Internet, notably the Web sites of politically connected GOP lawyers monitored by Senate staffers.
The storm swirled around lawmakers such as Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a potential presidential candidate who has courted religious conservatives. His office heard from Miers critics not just from his home state but around the country, as well as in weekly meetings he holds in the Capitol with activists.
One of the final straws may have been a report early this week that Miers, in a 1993 speech, expressed the view that women should be allowed to make their own decisions about abortion — a view that amounts to apostasy among anti-abortion activists.
Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, switched its position from "wait and see" to outright opposition. After Miers withdrew, Dobson said his group would not have been able to support her candidacy because of the speech.
Ironically, polls indicated that dissatisfaction with Miers did not spread widely among the Republican grass roots, and that Republicans generally viewed her in a positive light.
"The tail is wagging the dog," said Fabrizio, whose polls found that conservative Republicans viewed Miers favorably by a margin of 4 to 1. "While the conservative leadership feels Bush is betraying them, the average rank and file conservative doesn't feel that way."
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