Most Qualified for the Job
Every time I hear the President say that Harriet Miers is the most qualified person for the job, I hear “most qualified woman for the job.” There’s been a lot of beating around the Bush, especially by the Bushes. In an interview with Matt Lauer, George W. Bush praised his Supreme Court nominee for being one of the top 50 “woman lawyers” in the country.
Once more for the cameras, George… “most qualified person.”
It’s rather amusing to hear him insist that she is the most qualified person for the job, right after he ranks her as one of the top 50 “woman lawyers,” (psst, the phrase you were looking for was “female lawyers.”) Not only are there the other 49 “woman lawyers” to consider, but there are all the “man lawyers” who may rank higher, as well as all of the eminently qualified judges who were under consideration.
It’s not just that I don’t think she was the most qualified person… I don’t even think she was the most qualified woman.
Laura Bush has made no secret of the fact that she wanted a woman to be nominated. Hm… pro-female sexism, an unhealthy love for this country’s crappy public education system… is Laura Bush a liberal now? In their interview with Matt Lauer, the Bushes each referred to the fabled “glass ceiling” that holds women down from career success. Laura Bush made three references to things that Ms. Miers was the first woman to have done. Matt Lauer asked a question about sexism, but his question was regarding the possibility that sexism may be a contributing factor to her low support among conservatives. “I think that’s possible,” she said, brushing the question aside, so that she could spout some real life gender preferences of her own. The media has latched onto this in an attempt to further fragment the party. Caroline Daniel of the Financial Times posts an outright lie about the matter:
Laura Bush stepped into the front line of defence of Harriet Miers, her husband’s nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy, when she suggested yesterday that the attacks on her could be motivated by sexism.
Speaking during a rare joint interview on the Today show, the most highly rated morning news programme, Mrs Bush said: “That’s possible. I think that’s possible. I think people are not looking at her accomplishments and not realising that she was the first elected woman to be the head of the Texas Bar Association, for instance, and all the other things. She was the first woman managing partner of a major law firm.”
She didn’t suggest anything! Mr. Lauer posed the question, and she brushed it off by saying that it was possible. The canard that Mrs. Bush voiced the idea is making the usual rounds. What’s really infuriating is that this manufactured accusation of sexism by Mrs. Bush is getting attention, because it will turn the Republican Party against itself, Mrs. Bush’s other statements show an overt gender preference, but are given a pass.
Now that it’s become painfully obvious to me that Ms. Miers was chosen in part because of her gender, I’d like to know why was she chosen over the very many qualified female judges. Did Bush just want someone relatively easy to push through? Was this a repayment for Miers’ loyalty to the family? Is there some evil Rovian plot at work that I can’t even comprehend? In any case, I don’t like it. All Bush can seem to say is to trust him, and it would appear that many people don’t.
