Quotes of the Morning: Supreme Scratch-Off

“Whew.. Back. Yesterday the internets were down here in the Fortress of Attitude, but, fortunately, they have returned, and the politicians have been kind enough to make sure that I’ve got plenty of Quotes to use. I mean, heck, one Supreme Court nominee can keep me busy for days..”
-Skippy

“Born and raised in Dallas, Miers, 59, is a graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she majored in mathematics. She went on to law school at SMU, earning her law degree in 1970 and going on to clerk for a federal judge in Dallas. In an era when there were few female lawyers, Miers set out for the top.
[…]
Miers, who is not married and does not have children, was active in professional organizations and eventually was elected head of the Dallas and Texas bar associations, where she was known for encouraging members to do pro bono work.
[…]
Miers met Bush in the 1980s, and was drafted to work as counsel for his 1994 gubernatorial campaign. In 1995, he appointed her to the Texas Lottery Commission. After working as a lawyer in Bush's presidential campaign, she came to Washington with him in 2001.
[..]
‘I remember seeing him in her office many years ago, before he was governor, before he was running for anything,’ Clements said. ‘So it's been a long relationship and a very loyal relationship. She really is one of those people that the practice of law and all things associated with that really has been her life.’"
-Washington Post, June 21, 2005

“Well, she seems like another Bush appointed, unqualified, appointee. No big surprise there. She’s never been a judge, but has headed the Texas Lottery Commission. Not sure that that gives you the correct background to be in the highest court in the land. She is loyal though.”
-Skippy

“In the White House that hero worshipped the president, Miers was distinguished by the intensity of her zeal: She once told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met.”
-David Frum, National Review Online, September 29, 2005

“The President responded swiftly to the attacks on September 11th. He has our country on the offensive against terrorism. American is waging a global war on terrorism with the help of many friends and allies from around the globe. The President believed it important to confront regimes that harbored or supported terrorists as well as the terrorists. And he is also confronting outlaw regimes that pursue weapons of mass destruction, and he is committed to ensuring that the terrorists do not obtain the world’s most dangerous weapons. At the same time, the President led in the creation of the Homeland Security Department and strengthening our defenses here at home. Although I am sure the President would be the first to say more needs to be done, we are a safer Nation today than we were four years ago.
Additionally, with victories in Afghanistan and in the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and other efforts around the world, we are promoting freedom and democracy in the greater Middle East as well as elsewhere. Sowing the seeds of freedom around the world brings the goal of peace for all nations ever closer. All these efforts require great resolve and sacrifice, but we are making our Nation safer and we will leave a better world for our children and grandchildren. The last four years have been in many ways difficult years, but we have accomplished a lot and as the President has said: ‘because we have made the hard journey, we can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with resolve, we have historic goals within our reach, and greatness in our future. We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America -- and nothing will hold us back.’"
-Harriet Miers, Ask the White House, October 29, 2004

“It seems though that loyalty to Dear Leader is not enough any more. Even the conservatives seem upset by the nomination.”
-Skippy

“President George W. Bush on Monday nominated White House insider Harriet Miers for a Supreme Court vacancy, triggering outrage from conservatives who questioned whether she would uphold their political views.
[…]
‘It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. Miers is undoubtedly a decent and competent person. But her selection will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination of cronyism and capitulation on the part of the president,’ said William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard magazine.
Manny Miranda, head of a conservative coalition called The Third Branch Conference, said Miers was ‘the most unqualified choice’ for the high court since Lyndon Johnson tried to make Abe Fortas chief justice in 1968.”
-Reuters, October 3, 2005

“Ouch. It also seems she had a little something to do with a story a while back. Remember that ‘Bin Laden Determined to Strike In US’ headline that Condi was making light of back when we were wondering how the heck 9/11 could have happened?”
-Skippy

“On its front page Tuesday, The New York Times published a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch ‘in August 2001,’ the caption reads.
USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply “2001,” but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: Aug. 6, 2001.
Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous ‘PDB’ that declared that Osama Bin Laden was ‘determined’ to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?
As it turns out, yes, according to Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency ‘Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks.’”
-Editor and Publisher, October 4, 2005

“Doesn’t seem like a good choice to me, but I’m sure that Dear Leader has his reasons..”
-Skippy

“Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, yesterday held a conference call with conservative leaders to address their concerns about Miers. He stressed Bush’s close relationship with Miers and the need to confirm a justice who will not interfere with the administration’s management of the war on terrorism, according to a person who attended the teleconference.”
-The Hill, October 4, 2005

“Translation: She won’t mind a little unlawful imprisonment and torture, as long as its done for the right reasons. Fabulous.”
-Skippy