nomination to the Supreme Court. Why the White House decided to do this in the week that it's very likely that one or more senior White House officials may be indicted on Plame affair-related charges is beyond me. It was obvious at least two week ago that Miers needed to withdraw -- why wait until a totally horrible week (in which, sadly, US deaths in Iraq also topped 2000) to get it over with? Has Karl Rove lost his mojo?Who will the White House nominate now? And will they wait until after the Plame issue blows over or no? The arch conservatives with whom I occasionally dine are furious about the Miers nomination. They consider it a betrayal and agreed with my assessment that she probably actually didn't know how she would vote on abortion, much less how she would make an argument to get to her opinion. They weren't too pleased about Roberts, either, and generally think that a stealth candidate isn't good. My impression is that they want a record that shows a clear judicial philosophy that indicates that a nominee will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, thus setting up a Senate vote that forces everyone to vote on the issue. I go on about them not because dinner companions are generally good indicators of a group's opinion, but because one of the hosts of this dinner is a rather influential philosopher for social conservatives who knows what's going on.
So. Will W & Co. appoint a clearly socially conservative candidate for the O'Connor seat? Who knows? They've lost a lot of political capital on this debacle and don't seem likely to gain any in the next few weeks. But they clearly can't get away with just appointing friends and neighbors anymore. My money's always been on Judge Emilio Garza in this fight, but I have no idea if W has looked into his soul. We'll see. The Note thinks it will be Michael W. McConnell. McConnell probably wins on having clearer pro-life credentials, certainly has the legal-scholar background to keep some people happy, and scares me on church-state separation. In the meantime, I'm glad that O'Connor will be sticking around for a couple more months.
It'll be tomorrow before we know anything about the Plame investigation.
This is a great article about Baptists, segregation, and Rosa Parks' legacy.
In other news, I babysat for the kiddos last night and have therefore been up since 5:30 getting everyone off to school. To add to the list of horrible, awful things no one should ever have to do, telling two little boys that their team got swept in the World Series is right up there. They were supposed to be at tonight's game.
Finally, the Austin City Limits Festival issued its list of lame excuses as to why they're not moving the festival back to a cooler date. Their arguments are that:
1) average temperatures are the same in September and October;
2) it hasn't really been that hot the last four years;
3) bands wouldn't come because of tour schedules; and
4) we need an away game weekend.
My rebutals are:
1) we all know that it's almost never in the upper 90's in mid-October, so I don't buy their arguments that October is just as hot, forty-year-averages or no. Rain -- even cold rain -- would be better than triple-digit heat with not a cloud in the sky. Really. It would.
2) It WAS that hot for those of us who didn't have access to nice, air conditioned trailers. If you're treating hundreds of festival goers for heat-related problems, it's too hot.
3) The argument about fitting bands in on their summer tours is more compelling, although clearly in Austin, Texas we don't have much trouble booking people whenever we want to. And others agree that the festival has gained enough prestige that bands would come regardless. I do find it funny, though, that they say we wouldn't have been able to get Coldplay as though that were a bad thing.
4) There are away dates in October. Specifically, October 21, when we're playing in Lincoln, Nebraska, so we won't even miss an interesting game.
5) Did they SEE that dust? Rain might help!
Anyway, the same people who set up the no-chair-zone nonsense have ruled, and they're not prone to listening to the consumers. Mark your calendar for September 15-17, 2006. And start buying sunscreen in bulk now.
It's only 9am and I need a nap.