Excerpt from TIME Magazine concerning Harriet Miers...
"After enjoying the 78-to-22 confirmation breeze for Chief Justice John Roberts, congressional Republicans are now sweating the Miers vote count and tell TIME that it could be as low as 52—embarrassing but still good enough for a lifetime appointment. Lawmakers and staff contend that during her first round of courtesy calls, Miers had anything but a commanding presence, looking more like a prom date next to the confident Senators. Republicans said she seemed unwilling or unable to answer questions about whether she viewed particular cases as important precedents and said she offered little beyond banal chatter."
When John Roberts was going through his version of hell on earth, every Democrat complained that he didn't tell them enough, wouldn't elaborate, and kept things far too close to the vest...with Feinstein even going so far as to compliment his intellect but deride him for not showing her more of the man. Well, we all know what DiFi wanted him to show her, and while she cannot ask the same of Mz Harriet, with her comes a built-in escape hatch for each and every Senator who wants Miers back in the White House making coffee every morning.
She's seems a nice lady but so did the head librarian in my elementary school, and neither is qualified for, or knows enough about the job to get the job. Or, if the full Senate takes pity upon her... "I know she can GET the job, but can she DO the job?", as heard from the frumpy boss every time he spoke over the phone in the Tom Hanks flick, Joe and the Volcano.
"I was impressed with your personality, and with your wit," Joe Biden will say, "And I appreciate how hard it was for a woman of your generation to have climbed the ladder of success with the anchor of your gender trying to hold you down." He continues, sits straight back in his chair, and screws his face into that smile-grimace that can pass for whatever you want it to pass for and begins to drop the bomb; "But this is an appointment for life and we gotta get this right, Ms Miers. As an elected official I have to answer to the people about what I thought about someone getting such a job without having to go before these same people, and I gotta tell you that guts, and bravery, and personality are just fine and dandy to start with but there's gotta be some filling to my pie or all I see is the crust."
BIG grin now, hands spread just so...as if he's shooting a basketball, "And as much as I like you, as much as I admire you, and as much as I appreciate all that you've been through, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry that...for my money, now...I'd like to see someone with a track record, more experience, someone who knows the constitution, someone who can reach back into their memory banks of so and so versus so and so, and pow, pull out the answer without calling for half a dozen clerks to come scurrying in and..."
Gavel bangs, loudly, firmly, and quickly, to inform the Senator that his time had elapsed minutes ago and he still hasn't gotten to the point. This awakens Senator Kennedy, who looks over at Senator Feinstein to see if she's still wearing that low cut blouse, but Feinstein catches him and he excuses himself to make a restroom call.
And from there it's all downhill for Harriet.
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