Selling of Miers: White House touts ‘credentials’
The White House is relaunching the selling of Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court justice of exceptional qualifications. The religion thing didn’t go over very well, with Bush press secretary Scott McClellan criticizing reporters for focusing on her religious convictions while saying at every turn, “She’s a person of faith. That’s part of who she is.” Now the emphasis is on her constitutional credentials. In her nine months as White House counsel, basically the president’s legal consigliore, Miers has handled all manner of weighty and complex constitutional issues, according to McClellan. Reading from a list he happened to have at hand, he cited “laws governing war powers, commander-in-chief powers, pardons, executive privilege, the appointments clause, the commerce clause, the 1st Amendment, 4th Amendment, which relates to the Patriot Act, the 14th Amendment, and many other areas.”
And that’s not her only credential, said McClellan. “… she served as a city councilwoman in Dallas, and so she had firsthand experience with constitutional issues when she was on the Dallas City Council.”
Who knew the Dallas City Council was such a crucible of constitutional law? The second launch of the Miers’ candidacy still needs a little work.