Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Harriet Miers: Fawning Sycophant or victim of Bush's Ineptitude

It has taken me a while to decide how I feel about Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court. I've gone from outrage to indignation to actually feeling sorry for the woman. Don't get me wrong, I don't for one minute think she is a good candidate. But I do think she will end up another victim of Bush's ineptitude. Choosing her as his nominee casts a pall over all women. It brings back all those jokes about women that I had hoped were long gone. I even read one article that said she might be the first "virgin" on the Supreme Court, because she isn't married. No one made that comment about David Souter.

There are two very bright women on the Supreme Court right now. It is unfair for Bush to put someone like Miers in the same spotlight that those two women occupy. She is not of the same caliber and never will be. When she goes down in flames during her confirmation hearing, she will be another woman sacrificed to the male establishment.

For God's sake, Clarence Thomas was accused of sexual harassment and he still won appointment to the court. I guess it's inevitable that there will always be different standards applied to men and women. If Thomas had turned out to be a brilliant justice who brought great thinking to the court it might excuse his earlier behavior (although I doubt it), but he falls into the same legal category as Miers; underqualified for the job. All in all, it's a sad day for women everywhere.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Now that Miers has resigned, W. will do what his puppeteer intended in the first place -- appoint a confirmed opponent of Roe v. Wade to the Court. This will have long term ramifications for women who can't afford to fly away to safe, healthy facilities to make their "choices."

Oh, I almost forgot - is there still a war going on in Iraq?