Well, I had a really lovely piece cooking on the Miers nomination but it looks like it won’t be necessary now.
Thanks to an IM from Brad, I was alerted to Miers’ withdrawal. I skipped over to CNN.com and was greeted with this alert:
“Reluctantly” – I’ll bet. Hooray for the conservative side of the aisle, boo for my poor timing. Things are going to get awfully interesting over the next few hours and days.
Fortunately, the news of the withdrawal has brought Patterico back off the window ledge, while Scott Ott notes the lighter side of the whole affair.
Here’s the beginnings of my opposition piece, retained for posterity’s sake:
Firstly, in order to fulfill N.Z. Bear’s requirements for his Miers nomination blog poll, let me state this in as unequivocal a fashion as possible: I oppose the Miers nomination.
Secondly, let’s establish my conservative bona fides so that you, the reader, can better know where I’m coming from. I come from what has always been an extremely doctrinaire Republican household. My father was quite a liberal in his earlier days, or so says the word on the street. Through a series of experiences in his post-college days, including a stint in the Navy and work aboard a North Sea oil rig, as well as the influence of my mother, he became a Christian and significantly altered his political leanings as well. He felt God’s calling to full-time ministry and attended seminary shortly after my birth. The net effect of this series of transformative experiences was a home that was extremely conservative in its very foundations – socially, politically and religiously. Back in the early 80’s, in those heady days of the Reagan Revolution, this meant there was only one place for our family to be, politically: the Republican party.
I vaguely remember Reagan’s ’84 victory over Mondale, primarily because my parents were so happy at the result, although they kept rather quiet about it in social circles since we lived in Minnesota at that time. I recall “rooting” for the Republican candidate in each and every election thereafter – I was crushed at Clinton’s victory in ’92, I was elated at the GOP sweep of the House in ’94 and I dutifully pulled the lever for Dole-Kemp in the first Presidential election I was eligible for. Rush Limbaugh’s statements were well-nigh unassailable in my youth, as were Chuck Colson’s and James Dobson’s. This is not to say that I was consciously brainwashed by my parents, although some might try to make that case. There simply was a way to think about things that made sense and therefore, nothing else could genuinely be seriously considered if it didn’t fit into that sense morally, intellectually or spiritually.
I greatly cherish that conservative upbringing, as it has served me well.