Two women caught in the middle of two very big messes at the same time – both the result of their own arrogance: Judith Miller, irascible New York Times reporter and Harriet Miers, woefully inexperienced Supreme Court Justice nominee. Both are in the headlines every day and the stories behind those headlines keep getting worse. Yet, neither woman has the humility necessary to simply stand up, declare “mea culpa” and just walk away – sparing the rest of us the circus they’ve both created.
Sunday’s NYT has yet another story by yet another colleague of Miller’s, Byron Calame, “the reader’s representative”, throwing even more poisonous darts at her in an attempt to push her out the door. And she deserves to be pushed – hard.
I suspect we’ll see many of these in days to come as the NYT tries to save what little is left of its former reputation thanks to Miller’s stonewalling and self-absorption. Unfortunately, this will continue to be a spectator sport in which the audience members are tied to their chairs, forced to watch as the paper continually flogs itself in an act meant to convince people that, this time, it really means it – it will change. Note to the NYT: we can only take so much.
Meanwhile, Miers reputation is again coming under fire – this time for receiving excessive funds from Texas officials for a land deal she was involved with. This new scandal is sure to keep the media busy for at least the next couple of days.
Harriet Miers needs to withdraw her name from the nomination process immediately. It’s become quite obvious that a person so full of themselves that they would even consider accepting a nomination for US Supreme Court Justice with the obvious lack of qualifications she has places herself above what’s good for the court and the United States. There’s more than enough hubris in Washington to go around these days. Bush commends Miers’ character. That’s only because it reflects his to a tee – take what you want and screw everybody else.
Both Miers and Miller are guilty of the same crime: valuing themselves above all others to the detriment of millions who are affected by their actions. Both are emeshed in scandals. Both have poor defenses. Both will lose in the end. Both need to disappear from the front pages of the newspapers and stop filling our TV screens so we can get on with what really matters: the real business of the people.