Miss Miers and the Repunk'dlican Right

Many of us on the left are watching the White House squirm over the Miers nomination with particular glee. It seems that former corporate lawyer Miers is the darling of the business community, who has made noice in recent months that they will not be ignored in the debate over who Mr. Bush will place on the Supreme Court. This is causing some in the leadership in the Christian Right to fall all over themselves assuring their faithful that she is a faithful, anti-abortion, anti-gay evangelical. What has the rank and file so steamed is that they had identified several conservative "movement" judges who would actively pursue a social agenda if put on the High Court, and Harriett was not on the list.

Could it be that they have been punk'd by frat boy George? Could be.

Or could not be. It just may be that she is a stealth Thomas, rather than a stealth Sueter. As you may remember, Clarence Thomas came to the job painfully short on credentials and like Miss Miers was nominated for demographic reasons as much as, or more than, his resume. His career on the court seems to have borne this out, as it has hardly been distinguished to date. Like Thomas, however, Miers may be a corporate lawyer with a closet social agenda. It only took Justice Thomas six months to go back on what he said about a right to privacy. There is a similar danger here, although readers may note that in this space I opined that Chief Justice Roberts is likely a sure vote to uphold Roe, leaving the abortion vote at 6-3 in favor of upholding Roe and Casey as settled law. Given the track record on GOP nominees, it is likely that one of these two will uphold Roe while one will not.

So why the hubbub, bub? Borrowing from the bard, me think the right wing doth protest too much. It could very well be that Mr. Rove is orchestrating the whole right wing sob story so as to throw the Senate Democrats off the trail of Miss Miers movement conservatism. In this case, it is the Democrats and the American people who are being punk'd.

Is Rove that devious? Yes. Of course, things might be just as they seem and the White House is showing its true colors as a bastion of country club Republicanism. In which case, the Christian Right needs to ask itself, "where are we to go?" The sad fact is that, if they are not in on what would be the biggest political con of the last 200 years, the country club Republicans believe that they have no where to go. In essence, they are to the GOP what the Black vote is to the Democrats - trapped.

There is hope for them, however, if they are willing to learn. The leadership of the pro-life movement holds out the repeal of Roe as the Holy Grail of Republican politics precisely because it will never happen. Recent abortion statistics show that the best ways to stop abortion are economic, i.e., higher minimum wages and a more progressive tax policy. Meeting the economic progressives in the Christian Left somewhere in the middle might lead to the formation of a new movement, the Christian Libertarian Party. I will offer a shoulder to cry on for anyone who is interested in stepping out of the darkness of Karl Rove's mind. Simply follow the links to my web page and we can get started.