Was Miers Bush's First Choice?

In a Washington Times piece by Charles Hurt, the question is raised whether Harriet Miers was in fact, President Bush's first choice for Supreme Court Justice.

.....a leading Christian conservative said the White House told him that some prospective Supreme Court nominees conservatives would have preferred withdrew their names from President Bush's "short list" before the nomination -- raising the possibility that Miss Miers wasn't Mr. Bush's first pick.

James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, said he spoke with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove on Oct. 1 --two days before the Miers nomination -- and was told that "Harriet Miers was at the top of the short list."

Also on that list were several candidates that many conservatives say they would have preferred, Mr. Dobson said on his radio program that was recorded yesterday and will be broadcast today.

"Well, what Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list," he said, according to a transcript obtained last night. "They would not allow their names to be considered because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter that they didn't want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it."

Why am I not surprised?

The best candidates for any elected position are rarely the ones running for the office, because they do not need the job, want the job, and will not subject themselves, their families, or the friends to the rigors of a process that had become a circus and witchhunt. The best candidates simply do not want the job and if they do, they don't want the hassle that comes with it.

Take Colin Powell, for instance. He would make a good President, but he would have a difficult time getting his party's nomination because the far-right elements of the GOP would hammer him on social issues. But even if he did win the nomination, groups like MoveOn.Org would no doubt begin the campaign of dirt digging. And if that turned up little or nothing, they would make up lies and present them as facts in an effort to discredit him and his candidacy. That's not something that his wife Alma would be able to withstand, with her long fight with clinical depression.

What a shame. The nation loses an opportunity because a highly qualified and able man will not subject his wife and family to the political attacks that come with it. If this is the case with elected officials, it only stands to reason that many good qualified judges would not want to give up their benches, to become a target of political hack organizations and rogue senators that think they are God. Why would they, when you have Arlen Specter threatening to call third parties before the committee?

Mr. Specter had suggested he might call Mr. Dobson and Mr. Rove to testify before his committee about any inside knowledge they might have about Miss Miers -- a threat that has only heightened the angst many conservatives feel about the nomination.

A Republican looking to dig up dirt on another Repbulican, Sen. Specter is certainly part of the problem that will no doubt cause many qualified candidates in the future to say, "Thanks, but no thanks.". The nation loses in this kind of nasty process, the world loses also.

So, what you get when you engage in this kind of process, is Harriet Miers. Do not be surprised if this is just the beginning of such a practice.