Miers Gets Support From the Left While The Right Attacks

Echoing supportive comments made by Advance Indiana earlier this week concerning Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’ qualifications for the Court, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid spoke approvingly of Miers’ “real-life experiences” as an attorney in contrast to recently confirmed Chief Justice John Roberts. Reid, who himself worked his way through law school, tells Knight Ridder of Miers' struggles as a young woman working part time to pay for her education after her father was incapacitated by a stroke. Reid said, “She overcame difficult family circumstances to become the managing partner of a 400-lawyer Dallas firm.” Reid then contrasted Miers with Chief Justice John Roberts, who the report described as a “Harvard-educated blue-chip constitutional lawyer.” Reid had the following to say in comparing the two:

As bright and brilliant and as good a lawyer as Judge Roberts was, I asked him - he'd never taken a deposition, he'd never picked a jury, never tried a case. He never tried a case. She has. We need people like that who have real-life experiences.

While Democrat Reid was complementing Miers, Bush aides found themselves on the defensive in a meeting with conservative supporters of the President. According to a Washington Post report, White House Advisor Ed Gillespie boldly told the group that some of their unease with Miers “has a whiff of sexism and a whiff of elitism.” The Post reported that “irate participants erupted [at Gillespie] and demanded that he take it back.” One participant said of Miers: “She’s the President’s Nominee. She’s not ours.” And given the extremist views of some of the participants in the room, that’s a good thing. Notwithstanding the disapproval met by this conservative group, the Post reported that Bush aides were pleased with the support they were getting from Senate members and are not concerned about the prospects of her support from Senate Republicans. Their goal is to get support from Senate Democrats, which also appears promising given Senator Reid’s support, who voted against Roberts.