It’s hard to keep track of the Bush track-record. It’s dark at the bottom of an abyss. I think Iraq will always define the Bush presidency, along with their failure to protect us from the 9/11 attacks. Hurricane Katrina and the economic collapse at the end of their second term will be prominent features of any historical discussion. But, there’s more. So much more.
When President Bush nominated his lawyer, Harriet Miers, to the Supreme Court, I wasn’t entirely sure she should be opposed. I remembered how Poppy had pulled a fast-one on the wingnut base by nominating David Souter, a pro-choice judge. I thought Miers might be Bush’s way of protecting the GOP from the consequences of their anti-choice rhetoric. If we defeated Miers, I figured, we’d be sure to get some Federalist Society troglodyte in her place. That didn’t mean that I thought Miers was qualified, or that it was at all appropriate to nominate someone that would be judging some of the same decisions she had counseled the President on in the White House. I just figured we couldn’t filibuster every judge he put up, and that Miers might, at least, be sympathetic to women’s privacy rights.
As it turned out, the Republican base had the same suspicions and promptly sank Miers’ chances of being confirmed to the lifetime position. And that’s a good thing, because I’m increasingly convinced that Ms. Miers is headed for prison. If Bush had had his way, we’d probably be thinking about impeaching a sitting Supreme Court justice, which would be a sorry spectacle both here at home, and around the world.
Harriet Miers appears to be at the very heart of the scandal surrounding the politicization of the Department of Justice, and the inappropriate firing of U.S. attorneys for political reasons. Ms. Miers defied a congressional subpoena and refused to cooperate with the DOJ’s Inspector General investigation. She’d already be in prison for those actions if the Justice Department had not refused to do their job. Under an Obama administration, there is no doubt that Miers will be forced to cooperate with Congress, and she’ll face the choice of telling the truth or taking the fifth. Her actions so far heavily suggest that old saying that where there is smoke there is fire. I don’t think there is any doubt that the truth will land Ms. Miers in legal trouble.
Add this is the list of the Bush administration’s many accomplishments.
