SCOTUS

Well...I've been busy for a few weeks, and apparently J-red has too. In the past we've sort of covered for each other (ok, mostly he covered for me) but we really have missed a lot of big news. So I think I'll post a bit of my thoughts on a few of the bigger stories of the week.

SCOTUS
I don't know much about law (or judges) but I know what I like. I hadn't heard anything about Judge Roberts before his nomination, but the more I learned about him, the more impressed I got. He was an amazing pick... Then came Harriet Miers. Similar to Roberts, I hadn't heard of her before her nomination. The more I learned about her, the more I had to aggree with the Glenn Reynolds. Miers is (was) underwhelming as a nominee. So I vacilated between hoping she'd fail in confirmation and wishing she'd just go away. Reading a few of the right-wing blogs, it was amazing how well some analysts anticipated what would happen.

Some links:
What was wrong with the nomination...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007424

How the President goofed...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110007448
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bminiter/?id=110007388

Why the President goofed...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007445
http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/?id=110007398

Who the president should nominate....
I've heard a bunch of suggestions for the SCOTUS spot, pretty much the same ones that were being suggested before Miers. John Fund of the WSJ points out Chris Cox, a former congressman and current chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as a possible nominee. I just don't see it though. In the current state of the administration, I don't think the president has the political guts to name a non-minority to the court. After touting Miers sex by her pre-withdrawl defenders, not nominating a female, or at least a minority, would cause an uproar from the left. They'd almost canonize the martyred Miers, and whine about how she would have been good enough.
Now for a really strong minority nomination, I'd aggree with IMAO that we need this guy.

Ron Earle, Prosecutor Gone Wild

Well, it turns out that Texas Prosecutor Ron Earle got another indictment against Tom Delay. The problem, is of course that the first indictment didn't actually charge Delay with committing a crime. Bascially, Earle got an indictment against delay for "conspiracy to violate the Election Code," the only problem is that no such crime exists.

Delay's excellant counsel pointed this out to Earle in a motion the other day which sent Earle scrambling to find another grand jury to indict Delay on different charges.

The whole thing just smells bad. Powerline has a great run down of the story for those who would like to learn more.

What You're Not Hearing About Judith Miller

Well, after watching the MSM news coverage of the whole Judith Miller/Plame leak thing I must sadly admit that the news nowadays is virtually worthless. The cable news programs are just concerned about talking heads, sound-bytes and missing persons. When a big story does break they just rehash vague details you've already known for the past five hours.

This was evident last night when I watched the biggest windbag of them all, Chris Mathews. Here's the gist of the Miller/Plame story he covered last night: "Scooter Libby finally decided to sign a waiver, allowing Miller to testify in front of the Grand Jury. Miller then revealed that Scooter was her source. Are indictments now coming? How dare Scooter refrain from giving his waiver earlier, forcing Miller to remain in jail?" And of course he invites Miller's attorney on to talk about how bad it was for Scooter not to give the waiver earlier.

Now for a reality check. If the MSM had done their job, they would have realized that Scooter had already given Miller his waiver one year ago. As far as scooter was concerned, he thought Plame was going to jail to protect someone else. Then when another waiver is given, she waits 11 more days before she actually leaves jail. Of course one asks, why didn't Miller's attorney just press Scooter for another waiver along time ago if that is all it took.

If you want to know why Miller was in jail and who she was really protecting you have to see what the deal was. Miller's attorney talked to the prosecutor and agreed that she would only be aksed questions regarding Scooter, and no other source. This would only be a beneficial condition for Miller if there were other sources of the leak (ie. other reporters, Joe Wilson).

In short, the MSM only cares about the hype and the fluff. Just look at the Delay and Frist nonsense, and if that doesn't satisfy you, consider how the MSM reported on Hurricane Katrina.

If you want to read more on this angle of the Plame issue, be sure to read Powerline's analysis here. As usual, they give you ten times the amount of relevant facts and analysis as MSM site.