One of the great rallying cries of the conservative elements of the country is that we are a land of opportunity. If we are independent and hard working and self reliant all will work out in the end to our own and the nation’s benefit. We are often regaled with the bootstraps stories and tales of individual strength and achievement. No need to rely on a welfare state, big government or affirmative action to help anyone along. We should all be self reliant and expect no special treatment.
Apparently that mantra does not always apply or it specifically does not apply to Harriet Miers. Despite that fact that she seemed to meet all the criteria of the doggedly determined self made individual who worked hard and broke down barriers and achieved at the highest levels in her profession. According to what conservative dogma tell us she should have been judged on her merits. Harriet got real special treatment, she was purposefully denied the consideration of a public review. Nominees to the United States Supreme Court are given a hearing before the senate judiciary committee and then voted on by the senate. Instead she was bullied into a withdrawal.
The right often complains of the elitism of the lefties at the Washington Post, New York Times and other liberal media outposts of the Democratic Party but they have clearly shown that this type of snobbery is not exclusively the domain of the Eastern liberal establishment. They took a perfectly fine woman with a track record of accomplishment and dedication and simply trashed her. There is no paucity of self important, self righteous media windbags on the right as well as the left.
The hue and cry raised up from the right wing punditry of the Republican Party over this appointment was vastly over blown in comparison to their importance to the electoral potential for the party in national elections. George Will, William Kristol, Ann Coulter and Charles Krauthammer amongst many of the hard right may have won a battle in this nomination but it is no guarantee that they are going to see the president bow to their demands.
If do they get their wish, it may result in some very negatives effects in the 2006 mid term elections. If the president does nominate someone who has a verifiable track record and will state unequivocally that they are against Roe vs. Wade and passes the fundamentalist litmus test there will be a bruising nomination battle that will likely result in defeat for the nominee. The result will be that the conservative elements of the party will be abandoned by moderate Republicans and Independents and the Democratic crossovers will return to the Democratic fold in the up coming elections. Could an all out fight over one court nomination be a watershed event?
The Republican Party may find over the next election cycle that altogether too much credit has been given to this wing of the party as its core strength and the punishment for that miscalculation could be the wholesale defections of moderates away from the Republicans. If that happens we will get to see how many candidates the right wing of the party can get elected on their own.
