Specter to Question Miers' Qualifications

[sabra]

http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2005/10/09/ap/headlines/d8d4imv80.txt

Specter to Question Miers' Qualifications

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said Sunday he plans to vigorously question Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers about her qualifications because she has not proved to him she can handle the weighty issues that come before the high court.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said he has questions about Miers' grasp of privacy and abortion law. Miers, a corporate lawyer from Texas, is now White House counsel and has never served as a judge.

President Bush nominated Miers to fill the seat currently held by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a swing vote on issues from abortion and affirmative action to the death penalty and gender discrimination.

"I think she may well turn out to be the best qualified once we give her a chance to be heard," Specter said on ABC's "This Week." "But when you deal in constitutional law, you're dealing in some very esoteric, complicated subjects that require a great deal of background."
"The jurisprudence is very complicated, and I will be pressing her very hard on these issues," he said.

[asjr]

1. I would bet Miers knows exactly where

every body is buried and Shrub can't take the chance on there being an exhumation.

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. In other words

this woman doesn't have a clue and has probably never even read the Constitution.

[NYC Liberal]

3. Give her a pop quiz on the Constitution.

It'd be entirely appropriate and I bet she'd fail miserably.

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. They should ask her to list all the Amendments

and explain what each one is about?

That would be a hoot to watch her melt into a puddle of water on national TV.

[NYC Liberal]

6. Test her on some Supreme Court cases.

You know, actually I really think this should be required before even getting a hearing. There's nothing wrong with making sure they know their stuff.

Watching her meltdown would be hilarious! Couldn't be any worse than Duh-bya's moments, though.

[MADem]

22. Give her the Karen Hughes test!!!

Didn't ole Karen tell one of her audiences of Muslim women that "one nation, under God" was in our CONSTITUTION? Why YES, I do believe she did!!! http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1581655,00.html


Bin Laden's little helper

US administration lectures about God delivered to Muslims are a dangerous folly

Sidney Blumenthal
Friday September 30, 2005
The Guardian


President Bush has no adviser more loyal and less self-serving than Karen Hughes. As governor of Texas, he trusted the former Dallas television reporter-turned-press secretary with the tending of his image and words. She was mother hen of his persona. In the White House, Hughes devoted heart and soul to Bush as his communications director until, suddenly, she returned home to Texas in 2002, citing her son's homesickness. There were reports that Karl Rove, jealous of power, had been sniping at her....

"Many people around the world do not understand the important role that faith plays in Americans' lives," she said. When an Egyptian opposition leader inquired why Mr Bush mentions God in his speeches, Hughes asked him whether he was aware that "previous American presidents have also cited God, and that our constitution cites 'one nation under God'."

"Well, never mind," he said.

With these well-meaning arguments, Hughes has provided the exact proofs for Bin Laden's claims about American motives. "It is stunning to the extent Hughes is helping bin Laden," says Robert Pape, a University of Chicago political scientist who has conducted extensive research into the motives of suicide terrorists and is the author of Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. "If you set out to help bin Laden," he says, "you could not have done it better than Hughes."...

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

4. Arlen Specter wants to see her grades from law school...

I heard him say that on 'This Week' (ABC) this morning. If she is a rather dim bulb when it comes to constitutional law, I think Specter will have more trouble with her than anybody.

[Algorem]

7. Specter to Ask Whether Rove Gave Private Assurances on Miers

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aKdCRcqvwUTQ&refer=us

Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said he wants to know whether presidential adviser Karl Rove privately assured a conservative activist of how Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers would rule on the court.

Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he will would look into a statement by James Dobson, president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based advocacy group Focus on the Family, that Dobson has had ``conversations'' with Rove about the woman nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and knows things about Miers ``that I probably shouldn't know.''

``The Senate Judiciary Committee is entitled to know whatever the White House knew,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, I'm going to find out.''

The senator stopped short of saying he would subpoena Dobson or Rove to appear. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and member of the Judiciary panel, said today that Dobson should be called as a witness during hearings on Miers's nomination that are set to begin next month...

[Inland]

8. Sure. After all, it's not like its asking Miers to give her opinion on a

future case. It's asking if she already has. And asking if she is giving more info to Rove and Dobson than she has to the Senate.

Good work.

[Seansky]

9. RW unity no more, I thought I would never see that under this

admin, but if any of the RW has any real value, they shouldn't look the other way anymore...Too many accusations and exposures about how this admin operates and facts are surfacing. No way of continue the denial without getting stained by the corruption.

[napi21]

10. This is exactly the reason the rities didn't want Spector to chair

the judicial committee! I know he's a Pub, but he's one of very few who seem to want what's best for the US!

[Cha]

16. And he's pro choice and

for the government staying out of private affairs.

[merwin]

11. And you think she will answer truthfully why?

[Straight Shooter]

12. Conservative activist.

Nice label there. I would prefer radical reactionary frothing-at-the-mouth activist cleric, but "conservative activist" is a nice start.

[Cha]

13. dobson and his

fucking big mouth gets him in the spotlight again.

[MADem]

14. Let the GAMES BEGIN!!!!!

If Arlen, head of the SJC (and they wanted to strip that job from him, but he bitched and shrieked and kept it), is already making noises like this, this is gonna get UGLY. They could well haul both Rove AND Dobson before the committee to testify under oath.

Memo to self: Don't forget to buy popcorn! :evilgrin: :toast: :popcorn:

[pfitz59]

15. Conservatives protest too much!

Watch out on this nominee. Conservatives protest with a wink and a nudge. She's a fundie Xian yes girl, nothing more nor less. Not fit to serve on the bench.

[ninkasi]

21. But there is one other thing we do know...

she is strongly pro-corporation. Any lawsuits brought about by lowly individuals trying to get justice from corporate wrongdoing will not get a sympathetic hearing from her. Wasn't she a corporate lawyer, working for big businesses?

[gademocrat7]

17. Yes, make dobson testify.

Why is he privy to information that Senators are not? He and karl should be cell mates.

[baby_bear]

19. Dobson should also not be privy to anything the rest of us are not

It's not just the Senate, though they should know whatever they need to make a decision. But Dobson has no higher status as a citizen than any of the rest of us. This administration has totally abandoned the notion of "open government," which is critical to our democracy.

b_b

[Divernan]

18. You already KNOW Dobson's answer: "I misspoke."

Rove told me nothing. . . "I know nothing. . . NOTHING."

Then it will be Rove's turn: "I misspoke, etc., etc. Dobson misunderstood me."

There's no way either one will admit to anything substantive on this one. Cause you know, Dobson's lord and Rove's puppet would want them to lie.

[cassiepriam]

20. Dobson: The press misquoted me. Rove: I said nothing.

At least the idiots are consistent liars.

[MnFats]

23. Spector wants to know if Rove gave assurances on Miers to Dobson

from Blomberg:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said he wants to know whether presidential adviser Karl Rove privately assured a conservative activist of how Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers would rule on the court.

Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said he will would look into a statement by James Dobson, president of the Colorado Springs, Colorado-based advocacy group Focus on the Family, that Dobson has had ``conversations'' with Rove about the woman nominated to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and knows things about Miers ``that I probably shouldn't know.''

``The Senate Judiciary Committee is entitled to know whatever the White House knew,'' Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, said on ABC's ``This Week'' program. ``If Dr. Dobson knows something that he shouldn't know or something that I ought to know, I'm going to find out.''

The senator stopped short of saying he would subpoena Dobson or Rove to appear. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat and member of the Judiciary panel, said today that Dobson should be called as a witness during hearings on Miers's nomination that are set to begin next month.

[alittlelark]

24. Spector is Right on the $$$$.

Dobson needs to be brought up on federal charges.

[yellowcanine]

25. Dobson doesn't know shit. He was just shooting off his mouth. As he

is wont to do.

[Algorem]

26. like on the West Wing tonight,letting the radical clerics pick judges,or

pretending too.

[Algorem]

27. Rove could get subpoenad by Senate and indicted by Fitzgerald.Good

stuff!