October
8, 2005
Hurricane Harriet
By Robert
Novak
WASHINGTON -- Telephone
lines to Republican senators sizzled last week with calls protesting
the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. That followed
reluctance of the senators to heed the call by Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist and the White House to go to the Senate floor
to boost Miers.
Sen. John Cornyn,
a Texas associate of Miers and her friend for 15 years, was the
only speaker praising her during Tuesday's "morning business,"
though the leadership had hoped to fill that period with Miers
boosters.
A footnote: President
Bush had advised senators that his probable choice for the Supreme
Court was federal Circuit Judge Consuelo Callahan of California.
Bush touted Callahan's diversity as a Hispanic woman, but she
is liberal enough to be recommended for the high court by Democratic
Sen. Charles Schumer.
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Bush's
Agent
Former Republican
National Chairman Ed Gillespie, one of his party's rising stars,
is off to a poor start in promoting Harriet Miers' confirmation
to the Supreme Court.
According to published
reports, Gillespie evoked a negative reaction from conservatives
last Wednesday when he accused Miers' opponents of "sexism."
Republican insiders say that the Miers confirmation poses a big
test for Gillespie, who within a few years rose from congressional
aide to millionaire Republican lobbyist.
Actually,
Gillespie thought he had accepted a one-time task to run the confirmation
effort for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. But Gillespie had
no choice when President Bush said he hoped the Roberts team would
stick together for the second high court confirmation. Gillespie
has now moved out of the White House back to his lobbyist firm
downtown.
A
Senator's Vengeance
Freshman Sen. Mel
Martinez last week quietly blocked immediate confirmation as U.S.
ambassador to the European Union of prominent Republican lawyer
C. Boyden Gray, who last year withdrew his support for Martinez
in the Florida Republican primary.
Gray was
an active supporter of Martinez, who had resigned as secretary
of Housing and Urban Development to run for the Senate. But three
and one-half months before the Aug. 31 primary, Gray switched
to former Rep. Bill McCollum. Gray said then that Martinez, a
trial lawyer, had "opposed tort reform" and "taken
money from the trial lawyers."
At last week's
Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting, Martinez asked that
Gray's nomination be held. Martinez did not explain his objection
to colleagues, and an aide told me it was "personal."
After a meeting between Gray and Martinez, the aide said, Martinez
will not continue to hold at the next committee meeting in two
weeks. Because of delay, Gray will not take up his post in Brussels
until well into November.
Haley
for President?
"Barbour for
President" bumper stickers that suddenly appeared in the
Washington area were designed by one of Mississippi Gov. Haley
Barbour's top political operatives.
Barbour has become
a presidential possibility for the 2008 Republican presidential
nomination thanks to his handling of Hurricane Katrina on the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. His performance compared favorably with
disaster management in neighboring Louisiana.
A footnote: Joining
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas,
both presidential prospects, as a speaker at last month's Republican
conference at Mackinac Island, Mich., was Tommy Thompson, former
governor of Wisconsin and U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services.
He is interested in a presidential bid.
Targeting
Earle
Republicans have
begun a campaign to discredit Ronnie Earle, the Texas prosecutor
who brought the indictment of Rep. Tom DeLay and his resignation
as House majority leader.
The Washington-based
Free Enterprise Fund's TV ad contends that Travis County (Austin)
District Attorney Earle's campaign against DeLay is aimed at "the
Bush free-market agenda." It adds: "Ronnie Earle, the
partisan prosecutor investigating DeLay's political activities,
gave a speech attacking him to liberal activists, raising money
to support high-tax, big-government candidates."
Earle's speech was
delivered last May 12 in Dallas to a $500-a-ticket fund-raiser
for Democratic candidates. He referred to DeLay as a "bully,"
even though his grand jury was then investigating the majority
leader.
Copyright
2005 Creators Syndicate
