Harriet Miers

Nothing about Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court makes sense to me, except Bush's wish to populate the entire government, every branch, with his friends. When his father named Clarence Thomas it seemed clear to me that he was poking a stick in the eye of liberals whom he believed would be embarrassed to oppose a black person regardless pf his views. His son seems to like to do the same, but this goes way beyond that.

Now I find the Democrats pretending to approve of her, obviously to vex the already vexed right wing of Bush's party, too cynical even for these gruesome days. I have been a Democrat since Adlai Stevenson was the candidate for President, and I love it when the Republicans are in disarray. But I am more interested in putting Republicans on the defensive with creative solutions to the nation's problems. That's how the Republicans came to power in this period, by trumping the Democrats who had ruled for decades and had become complacent.

In what seems a short period since Newt Gingrich stood with his colleagues on the Capitol steps and brayed about the Contract With America that swept their party into a congressional majority. And now it seems urgent that we sweep them out before they manage to wreck the nation, its economy and relations with the rest of the world.

But surely we have ideas of how we would govern, with a more level playing field economically, a more friendly foreign policy, a more responsible choosing of people for high office, that are compelling enough that we don't need to play games with such a serious matter as the Supreme Court. Let the Republicans hang themselves.