In a column for the 10/17/05 New York Observer, Richard Brookhiser writes:
"Conservative defenders of the Miers pick attribute such violent and visceral reactions to snobbery: Our wise President is being second-guessed by a bunch of Beltway elitists and Ivy Leaguers who disdain the horny-handed daughter of toil nurtured at Southern Methodist University. But this charge is boob bait. Many leaders come from nowhere before rising to the top. Ronald Reagan went to Eureka College; Richard Nixon went to Whittier College; Abraham Lincoln went to no college. Ms. Miers had as many advantages as these men, or more. She only has fewer achievements."
The last sentence is a great one-liner. I'm sure those who sneered at the actor Reagan running for president would have loved the line. "Richard Nixon went to Whittier College; Abraham Lincoln went to no college. Mr. Reagan had as many advantages as these men, or more. He only has fewer achievements." Too bad for Mr. Reagan's detractors that Mr. Brookhiser at the time was a young supporter of RR and might have viewed that kind of comparison as using a sneer instead of argument.
How sad to become like one's opponents.
Even sadder that though this fight on the Miers' nomination is a true indication of the real diversity among conservatives, it is also a harbinger of political fracturing. If this nomination goes down, what are the chances of railing at "moderate" Republican senators if they choose not to support a more conservative judicial candidate?
Oregon's Republican senator is a good man, and it took some courage for him to vote from a blue state for Rice and especially for Bolton. How am I going to have any credibility in urging him to go against the majority of his constituency and vote for the President's future nominations? It will be tough with the Miers' episode in our back pocket.
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