On The Miers Nomination
I've been thinking about President Bush nominating Harriet Miers to replace Sandra O'Connor on the Supreme Court. I've also been listening to various pundits offering their sage opinions on the matter.
I don't know Ms. Miers. I don't place a lot of credence in the fact that she was the first woman to do this or that. Admirable, perhaps, but in the long run, being first isn't what I look at. I'd rather look at the job she performed. One of which was managing a law firm of over 400 lawyers, most of whom were men. Now, I have nothing against men. I married one, after all, but I also know how difficult it is for men to accept a woman as their supervisor. Especially when this is the first woman to hold that particular position. In this position she was actually running a business. She had to be sure there was money coming into the business, meet payroll and accounts payable, mediate between employees and between employees and clients, know taxes, and was, of course, accountable to her supervisors. Who were most likely men. Not to mention that she had to know the law and psychology in order to assign the right lawyer to the right case. You don't put a lawyer who's skills are in tax law in a case where he has to defend a client who may be facing the death penalty. In law firms, lawyers, especially young, new to the profession lawyers, don't usually get to choose their cases. Cases are assigned to them. That usually falls to the manager.
Ms. Miers has also been a practicing attorney. She's argued cases before the court for many years. I think I would rather have a Supreme Court judge who has actually practiced law as opposed to someone who talked about it in a classroom. Remember the old adage? Those who can, do, those who can't, teach. It might be an old adage, but there's a reason it's said.
I have to place some trust in the person who submitted her name to the Senate as a nominee. President Bush has known Ms. Miers for more than ten years. As he says, he knows her "heart". It's true that she has little, if any, "paper trail". This doesn't mean that she's going to turn into a liberal. As I said, not personally knowing her, I have to place my faith in someone who does.
I'll be watching to see what happens, but, until I know there's going to be problem, I'll continue to trust President Bush. He's made mistakes, but since he didn't ask for my advice, I'll have to trust him.
I've been thinking about President Bush nominating Harriet Miers to replace Sandra O'Connor on the Supreme Court. I've also been listening to various pundits offering their sage opinions on the matter.
I don't know Ms. Miers. I don't place a lot of credence in the fact that she was the first woman to do this or that. Admirable, perhaps, but in the long run, being first isn't what I look at. I'd rather look at the job she performed. One of which was managing a law firm of over 400 lawyers, most of whom were men. Now, I have nothing against men. I married one, after all, but I also know how difficult it is for men to accept a woman as their supervisor. Especially when this is the first woman to hold that particular position. In this position she was actually running a business. She had to be sure there was money coming into the business, meet payroll and accounts payable, mediate between employees and between employees and clients, know taxes, and was, of course, accountable to her supervisors. Who were most likely men. Not to mention that she had to know the law and psychology in order to assign the right lawyer to the right case. You don't put a lawyer who's skills are in tax law in a case where he has to defend a client who may be facing the death penalty. In law firms, lawyers, especially young, new to the profession lawyers, don't usually get to choose their cases. Cases are assigned to them. That usually falls to the manager.
Ms. Miers has also been a practicing attorney. She's argued cases before the court for many years. I think I would rather have a Supreme Court judge who has actually practiced law as opposed to someone who talked about it in a classroom. Remember the old adage? Those who can, do, those who can't, teach. It might be an old adage, but there's a reason it's said.
I have to place some trust in the person who submitted her name to the Senate as a nominee. President Bush has known Ms. Miers for more than ten years. As he says, he knows her "heart". It's true that she has little, if any, "paper trail". This doesn't mean that she's going to turn into a liberal. As I said, not personally knowing her, I have to place my faith in someone who does.
I'll be watching to see what happens, but, until I know there's going to be problem, I'll continue to trust President Bush. He's made mistakes, but since he didn't ask for my advice, I'll have to trust him.
It never fails to amuse me that so many people think that because Bush is slow and deliberate in his speech (and sometimes mispronounces words), that he must be some kind of blithering idiot. And not only do they call him everything but a child of God, they use the nastiest language they can. As if that only reinforces their stand. Give me an argument with reason behind it and I might listen. Start throwing in the expletives and you tell me that you just want to sound like a "big man" (or woman as the case may be), not that you have an argument worth listening to.
A man who graduated from Harvard Business with an MBA isn't any kind of an idiot. At the very least, Bush is smart enough to know to surround himself with people who are good at what they do. They give him advice based on their knowledge and experience. He takes it into consideration, along with his knowledge, experience, and moral beliefs and makes a decision. One of the things that I like about him is that he will make a decision and stick with it. He has moral strength and a moral core and he stands by his beliefs. I think that scares people. They don't understand that belief system. Whether I agree with a person's beliefs or not, I admire a person who stands by their beliefs in the face of derision and arguments, and sometimes, just plain meanness. I like the fact that he stands by his friends. That's not to say that I think he rewards his friends by giving them positions of power and authority. I think that he puts people into those positions because he believes they can do the job.
I think that conservatives and Republicans alike need to take a step back and reconsider where they stand on many topics. If they don't, they stand to lose the House, the Senate, and the White House.
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