• Harriet Miers,  Politics,  Supreme Court

    Harriet Miers Watch: Keeping Conservative Score

    October 13, 2005 /

    This photo taken Jan. 22, 2001, provided by the White House shows President Bush signing personnel forms with then-staff secretary Harriet Miers in the Oval Office of the White House.

    Hugh Hewitt is keeping score.

    I am sure there are some poorly written paragraphs in Harriet Miers’ TBA columns, just as there are poorly written paragraphs in all of my books and columns. Cutting and pasting and showing these on cable television is not an argument, it is in fact part and parcel of “borking,” which includes as a tactic the selective display and exaggeration of a nominee’s quotes for the purpose of producing a negative reaction against him or her, not based in their qualification to serve on SCOTUS.

    Again, RIGHT FOLKS, Harriet Miers will NOT withdraw and the President will NOT pull the nomination.

    STOP IT!

    But……. for those keeping score…..

    On Miers’ side to date: Ken Starr, Lino Gralia, Thomas Sowell, James Dobson, Jay Sekulow, Marvin Olasky, Chuck Colson, Michael Medved, William Rusher, R. Emmett Tyrrell and Fred Barnes.

    Against her: The Corner, Tucker Carlson, Bill Kristol, Mark Levin, George Will, Ann Coulter, Laura Ingraham and Charles Krauthhammer. I like those odds.

    Oh, yes. President Bush thinks she’ll make a fine Associate Justice. A strong case allows the weak case as much time as it wants. A weak case shouts down its opposite, and refuses to engage.

    Miers is headed for SCOTUS, guaranteeing decades of anguished posts by members of the Bos-Wash Axis of Elitism on why her votes don’t count as much as their long ago criticisms.

    Hugh has it RIGHT!

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  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  Bear Flag League,  California,  Politics,  Proposition 75,  Special Election 2005

    California Special Election Watch: Kerry vs. Schwarzenegger on Proposition 75 Paycheck Protection

    October 13, 2005 /

    Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center, answers a journalist’s question after appearing at the launch for a signature drive for the Jessica’s Law campaign, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005, in Burbank, Calif. State Senator George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, right, and Assemblywoman Sharon Runnner, R-Antelope Valley, said that if passed by voters, Jessica’s Law would keep sex offenders away from schools, require lifetime GPS monitoring and expand parole periods for offenders among other things. The initiative has until Feb. 21, 2006 to collect 373,816 signatures to qualify for the ballot.

    VS.

    Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., speaks as he stands with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, left, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2005, at fire station No. 3 in Los Angeles. Kerry was on hand to speak at a news conference to show his support for voting no on California’s Proposition 75.

    Reuters has Kerry takes on Schwarzenegger over union power.

    Sen. John Kerry, losing Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 2004 and a possible contender in 2008, took on Republican California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday by lobbying against his initiative to curb the power of the state’s labor unions.

    Kerry was the second leading national politician this week to weigh in on California’s Prop. 75 ballot initiative, which would require unions to get approval from members before using dues for political causes.

    “This represents part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to create an unfair playing field, to change the balance of democracy in America,” Kerry said.

    “They are willing to try to take away the democratic rights of working Americans,” said the Massachusetts senator, who was speaking to reporters at a fire station with Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

    Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record), also seen as a possible presidential challenger in 2008, had appeared with Schwarzenegger to campaign for the initiative on Monday.

    Democrats have criticized McCain as an out-of-state politician who had no business telling Californians how to vote but Kerry, asked about the same issue, said the ballot measure had national ramifications.

    John Kerry is trolling for UNION dollars (if they have any left) like Hillary Clinton who is also in town looking for campaign cash.

    Kerry took shots at Schwarzenegger directly, saying the governor who gained power in part by vowing to reject special interest money had “raised three times the special interest money than
    Gray Davis,” the incumbent Democrat he defeated.

    Todd Harris, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger, called Prop. 75 a critical reform for California, where public employee unions have long had enormous influence in the heavily Democratic state legislature.

    “There is no question the legislature in Sacramento is bought and paid for by union bosses,” he said. “The fact that the union bosses have been able to spend over $100 million to fight against these reforms is evidence that they have too much power. The governor has said enough is enough.”

    Kerry is a LOSER with NO political future. And he is paying for the UNION Label.

    McCain has an uncertain presidential future but possesses better bi-partisan appeal.

    Flap understands that John McCain has filmed television commercials for Schwarzenegger.

    Stay Tuned…….

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    Cross-posted to the Bear Flag League Special Election Page

  • Harriet Miers,  Politics,  Supreme Court

    Harriet Miers Watch: Rove Support for Miers is Adamant and Even Vehement

    October 13, 2005 /

    Hugh Hewitt has Rove on the Record.

    I spoke to Karl Rove an hour ago. His support for the Miers nomination is not merely enthusiastic, but adamant and even vehement.

    Read it all here.

    Flap repeats “What advantage is there for the RIGHT” to continue bashing the President, the First Lady and Harriet Miers?

    And the White House weighs in with WHouse dismisses critics wanting Miers to withdraw.

    The White House on Thursday dismissed critics of Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers who want her to withdraw from consideration amid new questions about her conservative credentials.

    Spokesman Scott McClellan signaled full steam ahead with the Miers nomination, saying the White House lawyer had begun filling out a questionnaire required by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will consider her nomination, and hoped to turn it in early next week.

    Harriet Miers will NOT withdraw her name (nor should she) and the President will not pull the plug on her nomination……. so………

    Our friends on the RIGHT really need to BACK OFF!

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  • Arnold Schwarzenegger,  California,  Cinema,  Entertainment,  Politics

    Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: True Lies II, T4 in the Governor’s Future?

    October 13, 2005 /

    The Irish Examiner has Schwarzenegger signs for big money sequels.

    Hollywood action man Arnold Schwarzenegger is set to juggle his role as California Governor with a return to the big screen – he has reportedly agreed to star in two big money sequels.

    The actor-turned-politician has agreed to reteam with Oscar-winning director James Cameron in a fourth Terminator installment in addition to a sequel to True Lies, according to website Moviehole.net.

    Eliza Dushku, who is excited about reprising her role as Schwarzenegger’s daughter in True Lies 2, says: “We all caught up. Me, Jamie Lee, Arnold, and Jim, to talk about True Lies 2, about a month ago in California. We’re doing it. Definitely doing it. I’m revved.”

    We can only hope.

    Flap supports the Governor but has been a film fan of his for many many years.

    And John Rosengrant, who is a special effects expert at Stan Winston Studios, confirms work on Terminator 4 is at a very early stage: “It’s too early to figure out what a new Terminator would look like, or anything like that.

    “You see the script and what spark comes from that, (talk) with the director and see what the vision is. It does no good to dream it up unless you write a treatment and try to get out there and sell it yourself.”

    After all, someone has to pay for those special election television ads. The unions have spent over $100 million.

    Flap handicaps – He’ll BE BACK!

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  • Harriet Miers,  Politics,  Supreme Court

    Harriet Miers Watch: The Harriet and George W Letters

    October 13, 2005 /

    The Smoking Gun has The Harriet And George Letters

    Bush-Miers Texas correspondence reveals mutual admiration society

    Sure, nobody seems to know anything about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’s judicial philosophy, abortion position, or conservative bona fides. But here’s something not open for debate: the old gal loves exclamation points and seemed to enjoy writing gushy notes to then-Governor George W. Bush. Below you’ll find copies of personal correspondence exchanged between Bush and Miers from 1995-2000 (before migrating to Washington, Miers headed the Texas State Lottery Commission, a post to which Bush appointed her). The Bush-Miers letters were among more than 2000 pages of documents released this week by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission. In a 1997 Hallmark greeting card (adorned with a photo of a dog), Miers sent along belated birthday wishes and noted that “You are the best governor ever–deserving of great respect!” In another note (penned on an American Greetings card), Miers wrote that she hoped Bush’s daughters realized that their parents were “cool.” A 1995 Miers note thanked Bush for a visit, adding that an airplane ride with the governor was “Cool!” Sadly, the document dump did not include Miers’s e-mail or IM messages, which are surely filled with loads of sappy emoticons. (18 pages)

    First, it was the press searching through Robert Bork’s trash cans and researching his video rental records.

    Now, it is Harriet Miers’ birthday cards.

    And folks wonder why some candidates like Flap’s fav, federal appeals court judge Priscilla Owen, may not have wanted the job?

    The price of a free press.

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