What about Miers’ Up or Down Vote, GOP?

Several people have recently pointed out yet another example of conservative Republican hypocrisy (as if we needed more). During an earlier fight over President Bush’s judicial nominations, conservative Republicans threatened the “nuclear option” of eliminating the filibuster. Their claim was that all of President Bush’s judicial nominations deserved “an up or down vote before the entire Senate.” Democrats they claimed were denying the nominees their opportunity to have the Senate decide on their qualifications. All of Bush’s nominees wound up getting an up or down vote before the Senate.

That was before conservative Republicans got the idea that Bush’s Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers might secretly be pro-choice. Conservatives vented their spleens on that nomination until at last Miers had to withdraw from consideration without an up or down vote. Earlier during John Roberts’ confirmation hearing conservative Republicans said that asking him his views on abortion was inappropriate. He’s against it. But during the Clinton Administration conservative Republicans on the Judicial Committee asked Ruth Bader Ginsberg her views on abortion. Conservative Republicans blocked most of Clinton’s judicial appointees from getting an up or down vote before the Senate. It appears that conservative Republicans believe that only candidates who are obviously dead set against abortion deserve an up or down vote. Anyone else doesn’t get consideration.

During Roberts’ confirmation hearing Democrats wanted to see White House documents (from his days in the Reagan administration) to understand his judicial philosophy. Conservative Republicans scoffed at this as a violation of “Attorney Client Privilege” even though President Reagan is dead. But those same Republicans demanded Miers’ White House documents (from a current administration) in spite of the same “Attorney Client Privilege” even though President Bush is very much alive.

During Roberts’ confirmation questions arose about his religion (he’s a Catholic and many conservative right-wing evangelicals don’t trust Catholics). The Bush Administration said that religion is irrelevant to a Supreme Court nominee. But when Miers’ nomination was in trouble President Bush assured conservatives that she was an evangelical protestant in order to increase her chances of approval in the Senate.

That is only one example of GOP hypocrisy. The Encyclopedia Britannica couldn’t hold the rest of the examples.

If Democrats decide to hold up the next Supreme Court nominee I hope they inform the American people of all the details above. They would have to somehow do this over the heads of the Corporate Media which rarely allows off message information (information not on Karl Rove’s daily talking points to the media) from getting to the public. Maybe once Rove is in prison for treason we’ll see the media thinking for themselves and the truth will come out.

We can only hope.

Joe