Another Lost Opportunity

Like Yogi Berra said “It’s deja vous all over again.”  We’ve been had.  We put our trust in a candidate named Bush, voted for him based on a campaign promise only to be disappointed.

You remember George Herbert Walker Bush telling us to read his lips, and then when the democrats exerted a little pressure, he caved.  He caved like every country club republican before him by raising our taxes and grinding the economy to a halt.  But we knew W was different.  He cut our taxes.  We pointed to the war and we were positive he was different.  This man would do what he promised, after all he learned from his father’s mistakes, the mistakes that cost him the presidency.

We overlooked the tell tale signs of another mediocre, can’t-we-all-just-get-along republican.  We thought “compassionate conservative” was cute and might buy a few votes.  We looked the other way when Bush courted Ted Kennedy and continued throwing more money at a broken education system.  We winced but ignored the “I looked into his soul and saw a man I found trustworthy” comment about former KGB’er Putin.  We told ourselves that the richest segment of our country, our senior citizens, needed to throw out their private prescription plans for the effective government funded plan that will cost our children and their children hundreds of billions of dollars.  We were mute when the president decided the geniuses that check our baggage at the airport should be brought under the umbrella of the U.S. Government and be given the tools to become as effective as the Postal Service or the many governmental bureaucracies we are so proud of.  We looked away as Bush refused to veto the pork laden Farm and Transportation bills.  We even ignored his appeasement of the far left by promising hundreds of billions of dollars to the historically corrupt politicians of Louisiana because he felt guilty about being called a bigot.

But ignorance has a price.  The most important issue to conservatives since January 22, 1973 is the reversal of judicial activism of the Supreme Court.  George W. Bush promised at every opportunity during the campaign of 2004 to nominate a justice “in the mold of Scalia and Thomas” if given the opportunity and millions of Christians cast their vote for the president based on that promise alone.  In a surprise announcement July 5, 2005, Sandra Day O’Connor, the reported swing vote on the Court, gave W the opportunity to make good on his promise.  He disappointed many conservatives by nominating John Roberts, an intelligent litigator with limited judicial experience and an even more limited paper trail.  Judge Robert’s nomination was elevated to that of Chief Justice with the passing of Chief Justice Renquist and the concerns of the right were assuaged by the extraordinary display of intellect by Judge Roberts during Senate hearings.  Once again, George W. Bush was given a pass.

With another opportunity to keep his word regarding the Supreme Court, George Bush has done the unforgivable, he has chosen appeasement over honesty.  During a press conference following his nomination of Harriet Meier, he looked at the American public (ala Bill Clinton) and knowingly lied.  He said with a straight face that the former Texas lottery commissioner was the most qualified person in the country for the open post on the Supreme Court.  Of the thousands of lawyers in the country, the President once again asked us to ignore common sense and believe Ms. Meier was the best our country has to offer.  Instead of picking someone with a record of standing up to liberals and a history of being pro-life, Bush picked friendship over experience.  Are we to believe the same eyes that deemed Vladimir Putin as being trustworthy are able to see the heart and soul of this unqualified nominee?  After being told Ms. Meier has changed her religious beliefs, and changed from a Democrat to a Republican, we are asked to believe that she will not change for the next twenty years.  Even if this woman turns out to be the most conservative justice in the history of the Supreme Court, it will be by chance.  

I no longer trust George W. Bush.  He has not earned a pass regarding court appointments, or anything else.  His choices are embarrassing and he should be ashamed.  It’s like deja vous all over again.