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"W. is so loath to leave his little bubble - where caretakers tell him how brilliant and bold he is - that he keeps selecting the people in charge of the selection committees. It's just so much easier to choose a sycophant who's already in the room than to create one from scratch."
-- Maureen Dowd for The NY Times
When a big story breaks, such as the Miers nomination, one wonders about the columnists who have to come to the issue later, after the others have taken their shots. Will they forget about it and just go on to other issues, or will they take the challenge and contribute something to the smorgasbord of wit and wisdom? Monk is delighted to see the inimitable Ms. Dowd rise to the occasion.
Well, whatever one might say of Bush's motives and limitations, he has given us an interesting person in Ms. Miers. In "'The Right Result' Was Key to Miers", Jo Becker gives us a good portrait of her one term as a Dallas counilwoman fifteen years ago that makes for a complex and independent-minded political figure. Miers shows her evangelical stripes on abortion rights as well as on the issue of Texas's old anti-sodomy law. But she also shows a strong receptiveness to the rights and interests of minorities and the poor. She is noted for defying easy pigeonholing on the ideological spectrum.
It is tempting to think that Bush is effectively offering this deal or compromise to Senate Democrats: let Bush and his religious base get their dreams on abortion rights, along with perhaps some favoritism toward other religious issues, such as prayer in school, and we get someone with a more liberal view on race. If so, given the political realities, it is a tough question, and Bush may have been misunderestimated again.
xXx
"W. is so loath to leave his little bubble - where caretakers tell him how brilliant and bold he is - that he keeps selecting the people in charge of the selection committees. It's just so much easier to choose a sycophant who's already in the room than to create one from scratch."
-- Maureen Dowd for The NY Times
When a big story breaks, such as the Miers nomination, one wonders about the columnists who have to come to the issue later, after the others have taken their shots. Will they forget about it and just go on to other issues, or will they take the challenge and contribute something to the smorgasbord of wit and wisdom? Monk is delighted to see the inimitable Ms. Dowd rise to the occasion.
Well, whatever one might say of Bush's motives and limitations, he has given us an interesting person in Ms. Miers. In "'The Right Result' Was Key to Miers", Jo Becker gives us a good portrait of her one term as a Dallas counilwoman fifteen years ago that makes for a complex and independent-minded political figure. Miers shows her evangelical stripes on abortion rights as well as on the issue of Texas's old anti-sodomy law. But she also shows a strong receptiveness to the rights and interests of minorities and the poor. She is noted for defying easy pigeonholing on the ideological spectrum.
It is tempting to think that Bush is effectively offering this deal or compromise to Senate Democrats: let Bush and his religious base get their dreams on abortion rights, along with perhaps some favoritism toward other religious issues, such as prayer in school, and we get someone with a more liberal view on race. If so, given the political realities, it is a tough question, and Bush may have been misunderestimated again.
