I guess the President has really stepped in it this time. This time, fellow conservatives are the ones who are unhappy. As the old saying goes, “with friends like these, who needs anemone’s?”

Over the past few weeks, as the Miers nomination debate continued to heat up, with the vast majority of major conservative voices expressing their desire to see the nomination pulled, I have, for the most part, stood on the sidelines. That won’t change today.

That said, I do want to make a couple of observations.

MISTAKE, MISTAKE, MISTAKE!
First of all, I do personally believe that Ms. Mier’s nomination was a mistake. I have no doubt that she is an honest, intelligent, over-achiever who has distinguished herself in her career. You look at her resume, and you know that much for sure.

I don’t think that we should care as much that Ms. Miers is likely an evangelical Christian who is likely staunchly pro-life. I am an evangelical Christian who is staunchly pro-life too. Should I be nominated for the “Associate Justice” position?

Okay, you can stop laughing now; that was a rhetorical question.

And the fact is, the majority of Christians I think want someone who is both a judicial conservative AND over-qualified for the job of Associate Justice. We don’t want JUST one of our own, we first want someone like a Janice Rodgers-Brown who we are certain will impress the nation during her confirmation hearings and go into the role as a justice who has already distinguished herself and whom we know can influence her peers.

Long story short; conservatives in general and conservative Christians in particular want a judicial conservative, not necssarily an evangelical Christian, to take his or her place on the bench. We want the right person for the job, and there are just too many other awesome candidates out there for us to be happy with an unknown like Miers.

SILENCE FROM THE LEFT
Secondarily; over the past few weeks, while watching the media coverage of this story, it struck me as very odd that liberal voices and opinions are being almost completely ignored by the MSM right now. We have a wall of silence when it comes to liberal/Democratic opinions regarding this nomination. To me, this is very telling.

Why would the mainstream media NOT give their traditional blanket coverage to Democrats and/or liberals on a topic of such import?

I think it’s because some liberals in the MSM are hoping that this is the beginning of a giant rift between the President and his die-hard supporters, both in alternative media as well as among mainstream conservatives. By covering this rift in detail, some of them may also be hoping to accentuate it and, perhaps, make it seem as if the Republican Party is experiencing a Katrina-like crisis.

More on this point in a minute.

The liberal silence may also later allow liberals and/or Democrats, if Ms. Mier’s nomination is pulled or she is not successfully confirmed, to then say to the public, “see, this is what conservatives do to career women; marginalize them, if not actively discriminate against them. Remember this as you vote in 2006; Republicans are narrow-minded.” Would such a charge stick? I doubt it, but liberals do love this kind of rhetoric.

Okay, back to the current Miers debate. To me, the real fascination is that this kind of heated debated is taking place at all among conservatives.

And I’ve found myself reacting (depending on the day) in a couple of different ways:

• At times, it gets to bee too much. Hours of talk show hosts discussing every greulling detail, with experts calling in to debate each other and the host. After a while, I just have to turn music on to tune it all out.
• Overall, I’m very encouraged by the quality and tone of the debate.

You see, I’m one who believes in healthy debate; and the debate over Ms. Mier’s nomination is, on the whole, a very healthy one. We’ve needed this kind of debate for some time now and thank goodness we are finally having it! We need to figure out where we are going to draw that line between loyalty to one person, our President, and our principles.

President Bush obviously is a human being, not the Pope. Let’s not be surprised when he presents us with human qualities that may lead him to a decision with which we disagree. And this debate is a great one to have. Long overdue if you ask me.

This is nothing less than democracy in action… So why is everyone worried (or elated, depending on your political affiliation) about a possible rift in the GOP? This process is partly about the need to remind our elected officials that they are… well… elected officials! The other element here is simply the ongoing dialogue that conservatives have long valued so as to generate ideas, discuss differences, and promote unity. Sometimes the best way to a resolution is to have a good, healthy argument.

And that is what you are seeing now.

Republicans in Congress, as well as the administration, should understand that conservatives are ready and willing, even eager, for a major confirmation fight in support of the right nominee. So ready, in fact, that they are willing to touch off a major debate within their own party to get to the real fight with liberals in congress and the special interest groups which support and influence them.

We are more than ready for a big fight over judicial reform. We’ve been waiting for this fight to occur for at least the last couple of decades.

This in-house debate is just a warm-up for the real fight we’ve been long seeking with liberals. Republicans in Washington should feel very confident that we are behind them when it comes to bringing a well-known, highly qualified candidate to the nomination process. No matter how much money liberal special interest groups spend to marginalize the Janice Rodgers-Brown’s of the world, conservatives will continue to support their efforts. We want nothing less than a true judicial conservative appointed as the next Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court.

David Flanagan
Viewpointjournal.com