I’m obviously not a conservative. But this makes a hell of a lot of sense.

The Miers nomination stands in direct contrast to everything conservatives are supposed to believe in. Merit, opposition to identity politics, accountability in government. The list goes on. And the guy’s right, the fact that Miers lack of a “paper trail” is touted by the GOP as a plus implies that conservative philosophy is something to be ashamed of. Seems to me President Bush thinks it is. And that should have been apparent the moment it slapped the “compassionate” label to the front of “conservative.”

President Bush makes a big fuss about accumulating the “political capital” he needs to push his agenda, which is supposed to be when all the conservative values kick in — when all the political compromises and capitulations bear fruit. Ten months into his second term, one can’t help but ask, “where the hell is it? Where’s the fruit?” Judicial nominations, especially to the Supreme Court, were supposed to be the fruit, the reward to President Bush’s supporters for biting down and bearing the spending, the entitlements, and the growth of government. This should have been the bold pick, the Janice Rogers Brown, the pick that makes Democrats cringe, and that sets the court off on a new course.

The right is now facing the harsh reality that President Bush never was the conservative they believed him to be. He’s a fightless opportunist. Not even a pragmatist. An opportunist. It’s all about having a list of “things we got done” to point to at the end of the day, even if it means doing them the wrong way. Turns out, taking the easy road on steel tariffs, campaign finance reform, the prescription drug benefit, federal spending, the highway bill, and farm subsidies was never about giving a little to Congress so he could reap big returns on the important stuff. President Bush took the easy road on those issues because, frankly, he’s the kind of guy who always takes the easy road. In life, and in politics. If ever there were proof of that, it’s Harriet Miers. The New York Times put it best, in vaguely approving terms, but the sentiment itself should give the right considerable pause:

The far right of the Republican Party will oppose anyone who has shown signs of moderation, and Senate Democrats will try to block anyone who has not. Rather than select a strongly qualified candidate from the legal mainstream, President Bush has taken the easy way out by choosing a less accomplished nominee who will raise fewer political problems.

President Bush is a political coward. He shirks from fight, as evidenced by his record-setting streak of refusing to use his veto, and his capitulation on big, legacy-making issues like the tax code and Social Security reform, and his refusal to take a stand even on the more mundane, everyday issues like the federal budget and regulatory policy. Yes, he went to war. Going to war is easy. It’s about the easiest “hard decision” a president makes. It almost invariably spikes his poll numbers. It’s rare that the public turns on the war. It takes a long time, and a lot of ineptitude for that to happen, and the real mess generally falls on the next guy in office. We’ll probably see that, too.

It took a callous judicial nomination for the right to see all of this, but let’s hope now that they’ve seen it, they’ll clean some house.

Sorry your boy let you down, conservatives. But we libertarian types warned you every step of the way. Perhaps next time you’ll listen to us.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 7th, 2005 at 4:41 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.