Concluding the Miers Debate

John from Blogotional has now posted his final response in what has been a friendly, and hopefully enlightening, debate over the nomination of Harriet Miers. It will probably not come as a great shock to our readers to realize that neither of us has changed the mind of the other!

John closes with this football analogy:

It's 3rd and 2 and you are the fullback (I know, nobody runs formations with fullbacks anymore, but go with me on this) you come to the huddle just knowing your number is going to be called. This is important. You're ahead by a touchdown in the third quarter, this first down will put you in scoring position, giving you the opportunity to take a much more insurmountable lead. You arrive in the huddle and the QB calls a short pass to the tight end in the flat -- your job, block for the QB. What do you do, walk off the field in disgust, leaving the QB open so he gets sacked? No, you do your job and know your number will get called with Offense Coordinator thinks its time.

There are two problems with this that I see. 1) The quarterback has a called a play that is designed to pass the ball, not to the tight end instead of the fullback, but to the middle linebacker on the other team. Any fullback who keeps his mouth shut about that ought to be fired for letting the team down rather than rewarded for his "loyalty." He should call timeout immediately and go tell the coach the quarterback is helping the other side. This is not a question of pouting or hurt feelings because somebody's number didn't get called; this is a question of watching our side hand the other side the ball, and the game. 2) Sorry, but if George W Bush isn't going to call a conservative's number ("when the Offense Coordinator thinks its time") for the Supreme Court, exactly what is waiting going to get us? B. ush mega-defender Hugh Hewitt himself described John Roberts as a "moderate conservative", and not even he (or John or anyone else) can offer a shred of evidence that Miers is indeed a true conservative "in the mold of Scalia and Thomas." In fact, all of the available evidence of her opinions seems to point the other way. But that's where we'll have to leave it for now.

Thanks again to John for taking part in this discussion. I appreciate his candor, and in my heart of hearts, wish that he is right about Miers and that I am wrong. For it seems almost certain that she will be confirmed to a lifetime seat on the Supreme Court...and I fervently hope her history to this point is not a guide to her voting there. We shall see.