Federalist No. 76 on Cronyism

[tritsofme]

To what purpose then require the co-operation of the Senate? I answer, that the necessity of their concurrence would have a powerful, though, in general, a silent operation. It would be an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity

. . . .

He would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.

http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fed_76.html

Thought some might be interested given the selection of Miers

[texpatriot2004]

1. You're so right, it is interesting reading given the lousy

appointments the lying lunatic makes.

[Bucky]

2. The unnamed "he" of the Federalist Papers was George Washington

Publius was talking specifically, if surreptitiously, of George Washington and his desire for appointing first characters to high office. We have fallen a long way since then, haven't we? Miers doesn't quite fit the "unfit" category. She's just a likeable mediocrity. I kinda wonder if Bush was just bumbling down the hallway one morning last week, ran into Miers, and impulsively said, "Honey, how'dja like to sit on the ding-danged Su-preme Court? Heh-heh."

A more serious theory is that this appointment indicates that Dubya has now reached the "the First Lady is my most trusted advisor" stage of his presidency. That's the usual fallback position following big fuck ups.

[tritsofme]

4. Interesting info on Fed 76

Thanks!

[davepc]

3. I think the more relevant passage for Democrats today is this one:

But might not his nomination be overruled? I grant it might, yet this could only be to make place for another nomination by himself. The person ultimately appointed must be the object of his preference, though perhaps not in the first degree. It is also not very probable that his nomination would often be overruled. The Senate could not be tempted, by the preference they might feel to another, to reject the one proposed; because they could not assure themselves, that the person they might wish would be brought forward by a second or by any subsequent nomination. They could not even be certain, that a future nomination would present a candidate in any degree more acceptable to them; and as their dissent might cast a kind of stigma upon the individual rejected, and might have the appearance of a reflection upon the judgment of the chief magistrate, it is not likely that their sanction would often be refused, where there were not special and strong reasons for the refusal.

For all the heat these guys take today for being evil racist slave owners and the like, the did actually think about the government they were creating, and had a pretty good idea of how it should work.