Thursday, October 06, 2005

Chill Pill

Betsy's Page blogged The Anchoress wishes that those conservatives having a conniption about the Miers nomination and those conservatives lining up to support the nomination would just take a chill pill.

I agree with The Anchoress
I wouldn't go quite this far. I think that conservative bloggers are fully entitled to express their opinions on the nomination and if you think it's a terrible mistake, fine, say so. But that can be done civilly with respect for people whom most of us admire and agree with the majority of the time. I haven't seen great incivility, but then I haven't read everything that people have written - it's been a busy week for me.
As I understand it, The Anchoress's email box has been filled with a lot of hostility
What does irritate me is those conservatives who basically want to take their marbles and go home since they're disappointed in Bush's nomination. Fine, stay home next election. I hope your sanctimonious conservative purity is warm comfort through the years of Hillary's presidency.
Betsy is exactly right here. Whoever the Republican nominee is, if conservatives don't support him (or her), you know what you are going to get. And I guarantee you, you will not like it.
Remember that our choice is rarely between the perfect candidate and some other person. Mostly, we have to deal with two imperfect candidates and figure out which one would be less bad for the country. If you're lucky, there might even be a candidate you can like. My experience is that such politicians are rare.

One of my favorite expressions is "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Bush isn't perfect, but, for a conservative such as myself, he sure is a helluva lot better than his opponents in 2000 and 2004. Just envision the type of person that a President Kerry would have nominated after Rehnquist's passing. When you're done shuddering, suddenly Harriet Miers doesn't seem so terrible. Sure, she isn't perfect and there is a whole list of candidates you and I would have preferred in her place.
I agree. I would have preferred Janice Rogers Brown, because I think Republicans could have gotten a lot of good material for campaign ads by taping Democrats opposing a Black Woman, but the only way she could possibly have been confirmed would be to exercise the Nuclear Option, and then, IF Hillary does get elected, don't you think the Republicans might have preferred to have the Fillibuster available as a tool to block some of her nominees? If Republicans allow Harriet Miers to remain as a Stealth Candidate, she just might get on the court without the necessity of exercising the Nuclear Option.
But, she's the nominee now and we should give her a chance to make her case in her hearings. If she bombs then, we'll have more of a basis to jump all over the nomination. All this huffing and puffing and woulda, coulda, shoulda doesn't do anyone much good. So, let's hold off a few weeks and see what transpires.

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