Digby: "Harriet Miers is the official machine justice, a made woman,..."

[RSchewe]

the one whose only committment and loyalty will be to Karl Rove and George Bush."

Monday, October 03, 2005


The Machine Justice

I think it's kind of cute that so many conservatives are expressing such angst at the choice of Harriet Miers this morning. Seems they thought that the Bush administration was about conservative ideology. Funny.

The Bush administration is about setting up the legal and institutional framework for a Republican majority for the next generation. That is Karl Rove's raison d'etre, beyond Junior, beyond conservatism, beyond ideology.

Harriet Miers is the official machine justice, a made woman, the one whose only committment and loyalty will be to Karl Rove and George Bush. I'm sure they would have preferred Alberto Gonzales but he is too much of a known quantity to easily finesse the varying political requirements within the base. She will do just fine. She is their creature. Her purpose on the court is to assist the Republican party in any way necessary, not to advance conservatism.

Voting for business interests is, of course, a given. Now the Texas mafia and the spawn of the college Republicans have their own seat on the highest court in the land for the next 20 years. But having one on the court for the next 10 years is crucial. With the election fixing, gerrymandering, corruption and executive power cases coming before the court over the next few years, her position will be very important to the GOP machine. It may very well be personally important to Karl Rove himself. (One hopes that the Democratic senators will, at least, take the PR opportunity to extract a bunch of public statements from her that she will recuse herself if and when specific criminal cases involving big name Republicans she's worked with come before the court.)

It's important to recognize, finally, what Karl Rove and the Bush administration, with the help of the modern Republican apparatus under Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed is all about. They are building a political machine, not a political movement. I find it very amusing that the right wing "intellectuals," from their ivory tower think tanks and millionaire supported sinecures at political magazines, have still failed to recognize that.


"She's the kind of person you want in your corner when all the chips are being played," said one friend, Joseph M. Allbaugh, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.


Here's a little insight into Miers' involvement with the Texas mafia, http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/05/10/ana05030.html">from buzzflash.

(emphasis added)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2005_10_02_digbysblog_archive.html#112836485644404749


So maybe she is not a extreme right wing idealogue, but instead a Rove marionette. Who knows. It is too early to tell.

MSNBC reported that Cheney was on Limbaugh's show assuring the right wingers that she was a good nominee. It is going to be interesting to see this all play out. So far the right seems worried about a stealth candidate or maybe that she is not extreme enough.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Miers: A made woman in the BushCo Cabal

That the Meme with Mojo --

Crony Injustice

[sandnsea]

2. She "discovered" Alberto Gonzales

I wrote on her back during his confirmation, never dreamed in a cazillion years he'd nominate her to the Supreme Court. Unfrigginbelievable.

"Alberto Gonzales was recommended to Bush as counsel in the Texas Governorship by Harriet Miers, who has replaced Gonzales as White House counsel. Referred to by Bush as a "pit bull in size 6 shoes'', Miers is a former President of Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell and former chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission. Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell have given at least $65,000 to Bush campaigns and are major backers of tort reform. One case involved a unique law - passed under former Gov. George Bush - that blocked Texas consumers from recovering $6 billion in overcharges on car loans and allowed dealers to keep kickbacks secret. Two consumer groups have called on the Texas Legislature to repeal it. Locke, Purnell, Rain & Harrell were defendants of the litigation, which included auto dealers in Texas . Miers was also Chairwoman of the Texas Lottery Commission and responsible for a chain of events involving GTech, which ran the Texas Lottery, former Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, and accusations of kick-backs and illegal contracts. Yes, that Ben Barnes, who says he helped George Bush get into the National Guard. His original deposition on that subject was given in 1999, during this Texas Lottery Commission investigation, and has been permanently sealed."

http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/?view=plink&id=306

[C_U_L8R]

3. I think she's the Church Lady....

meets Darth Sidius.



Anyone good at morphing ??

[Guaranteed]

4. She's Bellatrix Lestrange. nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

5. Our striking Yorkshire miners

were the "beneficiaries" of supermarket justice. I believe the chain was owned by Thatcher...

One classic encounter, at that time:

One of a number of miners arrested on their way to their pit (potential pickets...!) was led from the police cells to a room in which he was interveiwed by a mysterious gentleman in a suit.

Security operative : "If you had to choose between Karl Marx and Margaret Thacher, who would you choose?"

Miner: "If ah 'ad to choose twixt Thatcher and an a moonkee, ahd choose t'monkey!"

Don't know if the dialects that accurate, but it's how I remember it.