By Staff
All President George W. Bush wanted was to avoid a costly battle with the left and, by selecting someone he knows well, a miscalculation like his dad made with moderate-in-waiting David Souter.
Now, ironically, he faces a costly battle with the right.
Of course Harriet Miers is a crony. Absent her relationship with the President of the United States, no one would have thought to nominate the former Texas lottery commissioner to the Supreme Court.
Bush's &#8221pit bull in size 6 shoes“; gave money to Al Gore's 1988 presidential campaign.
Raised a Catholic, Miers joined Valley View Christian Church, an evangelical congregation in suburban Dallas in 1979.
Those are profound changes for a woman Bush promotes by saying, &#8221I've known her long enough to know she's not going to change“; and legislate from the bench.
Miers, who met Bush at a gala dinner in 1989, majored in math at Southern Methodist University. She was a year ahead of Laura Bush at SMU.
Like 41 of 109 justices in American history, Miers has never been a judge. Or a law professor, like William Douglas. She put in a term on the Dallas city council. Earl Warren served three terms as California governor. Twenty-seven justices served in Congress.
Law wasn't even her first choice. Engaged once, but never married, she dreamed of being a doctor, but feared she wasn't smart enough.
She turned toward the law after an attorney helped her family navigate her father's stroke, becoming one of nine women in a class of 143 to graduate from SMU law school in 1970.
As a corporate litigator, her clients included Disney and Microsoft.
She capably shattered one glass ceiling after another: first female president of her law firm, first female president of the Dallas bar, first female president of the Texas bar.
Miers has served Bush faithfully since working as his counsel when he ran for governor in 1994. Her first White House post was staff secretary, meticulously reviewing every scrap of paper that crossed the chief executive's desk.
She became White House counsel when Alberto Gonzalez advanced to Attorney General. She has earned a reputation for being incredibly smart and driven.
White House official Karl Rove made a fourth appearance Oct. 14 before a federal grand jury investigating the CIA leak case as prosecutors near a decision on whether to charge Rove or anyone else.
Republicans must be jittery, what with Bush's low popularity and woes that include the Iraq war, complaints about federal hurricane response and criminal and ethical probes affecting other GOP leaders, such as Tom DeLay and Bill Frist.
Some believe Bush nominating a Supreme Court candidate who alienated his conservative base signals Rove's distraction or absence.
The National Pro-Life Action Center on Oct. 14 called on Bush to withdraw his &#8221ill-advised“; nomination.
National Review magazine said Miers should yank her own nomination so that the White House could &#8221start over.“;
Bush exhibited &#8221stunning arrogance,“; declared Ann Coulter, to think he could pick anyone he liked. &#8221The President is not supposed to be nominating his personal lawyer for a job on the United States Supreme Court. You don't have your personal accountant replace Alan Greenspan. It's embarrassing to hear people describe this as if this is the best woman Bush could get.“;
Conservative activist Paul Weyrich sensed insult in the assumption that Bush followers wouldn't dare question his choice. &#8221They are so used to conservatives falling in line, rolling over and playing dead - that's what they expected.“;
Quips, quotes and qulunkers: &#8221For a man whose presidency is marked by a courageous willingness to think and do big things, this nomination is a sorry retreat into smallness.“;
James Blond: Daniel Craig, 37, the sandy-haired new James Bond starring in &#8221Casino Royale“; in November 2006, will be only the second Englishman to play the British spy inspired by Ian Fleming's novels.
Craig replaces Pierce Brosnan, who starred in four Bond films. Craig's favorite Bond? Sean Connery. His favorite Bond film? &#8221Goldfinger.“; His favorite Bond girl? Diana Rigg in &#8221On Her Majesty's Secret Service.“;
Director Martin Campbell, who directed Brosnan's first 007 outing,
Consumer prices soared in September by the biggest amount in 25 years propelled by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and record gasoline costs that exceeded $3 per gallon.
4.1 percent: cost-of-living increase more than 48 million Americans will see next year in their monthly Social Security checks - the biggest boost in 15 years and a larger raise than younger workers expect to take home. The COLA hike in 1991 was 5.4 percent. Last year, 2.7 percent.
Curfew relaxed: French Quarter bar owners, frustrated with the slow pace of recovery in New Orleans, won Oct. 14 when the city eased its curfew from midnight to 2 a.m.
Bars on or near Bourbon Street were threatening to defy the midnight edict decreed Oct. 6 by Mayor C. Ray Nagin.
Bar owners said the curfew was largely ignored until last week's videotaped beating of retired elementary school teacher Robert Davis, 64, by police officers.