Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Miranda: President Bush, Do Not Nominate Gonzales
Manuel Miranda, Senate Majority Leader Frist's former committee counsel, has an excellent op-ed in today's Washington Times. Miranda really knocks it out of the park, showing Bush where GOP logic fails with regards to nominating a) a friend and b) a Hispanic as a political maneuver.
This is an excellent example of a principled argument for conservatism and against pragmatism. The Left has managed to distill this debate over who the next justice should be down to one issue - abortion. Some on the Right have taken the bait. While I agree that ending the tyranny of Roe is extremely important, abortion isn't the entirety of this debate. Being pro-life doesn't make one conservative. As Miranda points out, this is a rare opportunity to shape the laws of this nation for an entire generation or more. Much more is at stake here than one mere issue. While Gonzales is wrong on the abortion issue, there are many other issues where he fails Bush's conservative base. The debate should focus on those issues, as well.
UPDATE: Just for review - Manuel Miranda is a friend of conservatives. Arlen Specter is not. In fact, in reading his latest comments on who he wants as Chief Justice and his endorsement of a backdoor coup d'etat in secret meetings with O'Connor and unnamed Democratic senators, I have to question Specter's sanity. Or at least Bush and Santorum's for helping his re-election campaign.
MORE: Fred Barnes agrees with Miranda in The Weekly Standard - Bush has a promise to keep that has nothing to do with Democratic whining. These are the types of articles that I pray are making it to the President's desk in the Oval Office.
This is an excellent example of a principled argument for conservatism and against pragmatism. The Left has managed to distill this debate over who the next justice should be down to one issue - abortion. Some on the Right have taken the bait. While I agree that ending the tyranny of Roe is extremely important, abortion isn't the entirety of this debate. Being pro-life doesn't make one conservative. As Miranda points out, this is a rare opportunity to shape the laws of this nation for an entire generation or more. Much more is at stake here than one mere issue. While Gonzales is wrong on the abortion issue, there are many other issues where he fails Bush's conservative base. The debate should focus on those issues, as well.
UPDATE: Just for review - Manuel Miranda is a friend of conservatives. Arlen Specter is not. In fact, in reading his latest comments on who he wants as Chief Justice and his endorsement of a backdoor coup d'etat in secret meetings with O'Connor and unnamed Democratic senators, I have to question Specter's sanity. Or at least Bush and Santorum's for helping his re-election campaign.
MORE: Fred Barnes agrees with Miranda in The Weekly Standard - Bush has a promise to keep that has nothing to do with Democratic whining. These are the types of articles that I pray are making it to the President's desk in the Oval Office.
Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 2:46 AM 
