George Will's latest refutation of the pro-Miers argument hits the nail squarely on the head. The point is not who she is or how she'll vote, but whether she will bring anything to the table:
In their unseemly eagerness to assure Miers's conservative detractors that she will reach the "right" results, her advocates betray complete incomprehension of this: Thoughtful conservatives' highest aim is not to achieve this or that particular outcome concerning this or that controversy. Rather, their aim for the Supreme Court is to replace semi-legislative reasoning with genuine constitutional reasoning about the Constitution's meaning as derived from close consideration of its text and structure. Such conservatives understand that how you get to a result is as important as the result. Indeed, in an important sense, the path that the Supreme Court takes to the result often is the result.There is no end of indication that Miers' approach to the Constitution is result-based. Further, there is no indication that we, or indeed, she, knows what result that would be. It is no good to replace semi-legislative thinking with unclear thinking. In that sense, she is Souter. This may be a reason why "stealth" is a bad strategy: anyone who has such a paucity of work to achieve stealth hasn't the experience, knowledge or temperament to succeed as a justice. True, O'Connor was constantly splitting the baby, but at least we had some idea she knew which baby to split. With Miers we don't even have that.
Then he throws down the gauntlet:
Still, Miers must begin with 22 Democratic votes against her. Surely no Democrat can retain a shred of self-respect if, having voted against John Roberts, he or she then declares Miers fit for the court. All Democrats who so declare will forfeit a right and an issue -- their right to criticize the administration's cronyism.Or even senatorial.As for Republicans, any who vote for Miers will thereafter be ineligible to argue that it is important to elect Republicans because they are conscientious conservers of the judicial branch's invaluable dignity. Finally, any Republican senator who supinely acquiesces in President Bush's reckless abuse of presidential discretion -- or who does not recognize the Miers nomination as such -- can never be considered presidential material.
UPDATE: NZ Bear suggests that everyone state their postion on Miers, so, for the record: "I oppose the Miers nomination."
Not only are you trading on someone elses name; not only does your blog do little more then retread topics already covered, to greater depth, by other right wing blogs (in direct opposition of the actual kevin murphy's politics); but you live in L.A., which the actual Kevin Murphy despises.
How republican of you to have such a total lack of personal responsibility.
Posted by: brayker at November 1, 2005 12:40 PMWere you born a moron, or did you have to study to be one?
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at November 1, 2005 01:12 PMBrayker,
Are you on dope for medicinal purposes or just recreation?
And why are you commenting on old news?
Move on dot org...
Posted by: California Conservative at November 1, 2005 01:26 PM"Brayker," are you the actual idiot you claim to be, or are you some other guy trying to trade on the real Brayker's name and make him/her/it look like an idiot?
Posted by: The Real Xrlq at November 1, 2005 01:44 PMAnd I thought my trolls were morons! "Brayker" is so unique that I'm almost jealous.
I want trolls that are as stupid as Brayker, damn it!
It's really a wonder to behold; I had to see it to believe it. We should start a museum of blog-comment stupidity.
Posted by: Attila Girl at November 1, 2005 04:44 PMBrayker wins the prize!
Posted by: caltechgirl at November 1, 2005 04:55 PMIts awesome of you to call me a moron with no factual back up, awesomer still how this seems to be a virtual wading pool of poorly written blogs.
Is anyone actually going to say anything to prove me in any way wrong, or is it just going to be an effort to shout me down?
The only real explanation is that pseudo-Kevin Murphy is actually named Kevin Murphy, which would make the MST3k feint doubly lame.
As an after thought:
http://www.ayearatthemovies.com/ Here's the actual TV's Kevin Murphy's site, as I'm assuming a couple of the other people here are co-geeks and might not have already purchased his fantastic book.
Hey, fan-boy. What MST3k "feint" are you talking about? Interocitor? You're obviously jumping to conclusions only you can see.
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at November 2, 2005 09:08 AMHey Kevin, didn't you realize that if there's some other guy out there whose name is Kevin Murphy, you have an obligation to change it to something else? Geez, get with the program already.
Posted by: The Real Xrlq at November 2, 2005 09:15 AMit = yours
Posted by: The Real Xrlq at November 2, 2005 09:16 AMCome on, you're obviously not an idiot; yes, interocitor\This Island Earth\MST3k: The Movie.
The connection is inescapable, if my name were Sandy Franks would I call my political blog 'The Battle Of The Planets'? No, because that would either look like I was trading on the Franks name, or I was a 14 year old fan boy with opinions formed in the lunchroom.
Either change the page and project the image of an actual grown up [and original thinking] blogger, or, I guess, keep doing what you're doing.
Posted by: brayker at November 2, 2005 09:29 AMHmmm free word association game, huh? Lessee ... brayker ... burt reynolds ... chimp. Your turn.
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at November 2, 2005 09:42 AMHeh, alright, well I tried to explain my position, but if you're going to play kid games then I guess I should just listen to that age-old advice and move on.
A final note would be to check out California Conservative's blog to see what a site that projects maturity and original effort looks like, I admittedly can't vouch for all the content as I didn't have time to read through more then the first couple of posts, but at least it should provide you with a blue print.
[Another good example is Joshua Marshall's TPM: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/]
Thanks for at least reading my comments, even if just to mock them, good luck and god speed.
Posted by: brayker at November 2, 2005 09:56 AMYou need to change your name to Michael, then there will only be twelve of you, up around here anyhow.
Posted by: -keith in mtn. view at November 2, 2005 09:58 AMMichael is my brother. Who are these 12 imposters? Not even counting this Wikipedia list
Posted by: Kevin Murphy at November 2, 2005 10:17 AM