As the White House seeks to rally senators behind the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, lawyers for the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are expressing dissatisfaction with the choice and pushing back against her, aides to 6 of the 10 Republican committee members said yesterday.I'm now convinced: Miers won't make it.
"Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact," a lawyer to a Republican committee member said.
All the Republican staff members insisted on anonymity for fear of retaliation from their supervisors and from the Senate leaders.
At two stormy meetings on Friday - the first a planning meeting of the chief counsels to Republican committee members and the second a Republican staff meeting with Ed Gillespie, the former Republican Party chairman who is helping to lobby for the nomination - committee lawyers were unanimous in their dismay over Ms. Miers's qualifications and conservative credentials, several attendees said. . .
"You could say there is pretty much uniform disappointment with the nomination at the staff level," another Republican on the committee staff said. "It is clear there is quite a bit of skepticism, and even some flashes of hostility."
Another Republican aide close to the committee said, "I don't know a staffer who approves of this nomination, anywhere. Most of it is outright hostility throughout the Judiciary Committee staff."
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Similar info at the Washington Times :
Republican staff lawyers on the committee -- normally the ones building the case to confirm a Republican nominee -- say they are despondent over Mr. Bush's choice and some are actively working to thwart her.(via reader appell8)
"I don't know anybody who is buying what the White House is selling here," said one Republican staffer.
"They're putting out a bunch of positive rhetoric, but they're not putting any substance behind it," said another
1 comment:
I find all of this quite astounding. Initially, I was upset about it but after listening to Hugh Hewitt, he's changed my opinion. While I would've chosen many others over Miers I've got to remember that Bush has been good on his picks, why would he suddenly go wrong?
He realizes the importance of this pick, he knows the stakes, especially on how conservatives will view him in the future. I am convinced he just isn't going to blow it.
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