You can’t get it online, but how about this great line from David Brooks:

Harriet Miers has shown no loyalty to conservative institutions like the Federalist Society. her loyalty has been to the person of the president, and her mental style seems to be Republicanism on stilts.

Which would explain why some people persist in defending her: Those who believe that Republicanism is the paramount value will naturally support Miers. Those who believe that ideas and principles matter more than team politics, do not.

One of the big mistakes of the Roberts nomination was the way the administration ran away from the Federalist Society and went out of their way to assure people that Roberts wasn’t a member. That sent an instant message to young lawyer types that maybe it wasn’t safe to be in the Federalist Society if you had political aspirations.

Well now that message has been underlined, bolded, and put in 80-point with this Drudge flash:

The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of sworn testimony given by Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in 1990 in which she said that she “wouldn’t belong to the Federalist Society” – a conservative and libertarian lawyers’ organization – because it was “politically charged.”

But Bush’s Supreme Court nominee did not include in that catagory the NAACP and other liberal groups, the transcript reveals!

Here’s the exchange:

Q. Ms. Miers, are you a member of any predominantly minority organizations, such as the NAACP, Black Chamber of Commerce, Urban League or any other predominantly minority organizations?

A. Women minorities?

Q. Well, maybe predominantly racial and ethnic minorities?

A. No.

Q. . . . . In your capacity as an at-large member do you think being involved in such organizations might assist you in having a perspective that – bring a perspective to your job that you don’t have?

A. I attend meetings designed to give me that input. However, I have tried to avoid memberships in organization s that were politically charged with one viewpoint or the other. For example, I wouldn’t belong to the Federalist Society any more than – I just feel like it’s better to not be involved in organizations that seem to color your view one way or the other for people who are examining you. I did join the Progressive Voters League here in Dallas during the campaign as part of the campaign.

Q. Are you active in the PVL now, do you intend to be?

A. No, I am not.

Q. Do you think the NAACP and Black Chamber of Commerce are in the category of organizations you were talking about?

A. No, I don’t. . . . .

Transcript of Trial, Roy Williams et al. v. City of Dallas, No. CA-3-88-152-R, pages V-46 to V-47 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Tex. Sept. 11, 1989).

The Bush administration has now made the Federalist Society radioactive. Thanks a lot, Mr. President.

David Frum’s petition for the withdrawal of Harriet Miers is up.

This article is supposed to be about a guy skipping out on a monster tab, but the editors bury the lede. The real news is: There’s a store “where customers can read comic books while drinking cafe or tea”!

Sign me up.

John Fund has an excellent piece on the vetting process for Miers, including this nugget:

Another issue will involve Ms. Miers’s tenure as head of the Texas Lottery Commission, where lottery director Nora Linares was fired in a scandal involving influence-peddling and lottery contracts. In a curious move, the White House announced this week that regarding the Linares matter, “Harriet Miers has never commented and will not now on what was a personnel matter.” That is unlikely to remain a tenable position.

You don’t say. Then there’s this:

Mr. Card is said to have shouted down objections to Ms. Miers at staff meetings. A senator attending the White House swearing-in of John Roberts four days before the Miers selection was announced was struck by how depressed White House staffers were during discussion of the next nominee. He says their reaction to him could have been characterized as, “Oh brother, you have no idea what’s coming.”

From the White House press briefing:

MR. McCLELLAN: The President makes selections based on potential nominees’ qualifications and experience and judicial temperament.

Since Harriet Miers has no judicial temperament (she’s never been a judge) and her qualifications are pretty thin, that would suggest that the president relied pretty heavily on her experience.

One wonders if he means this in the classic grievance-group sense, i.e. “her experience as a woman,” “her experience as a Christian,” etc.

I normally don’t equate tastelessness or offensiveness with Las Vegas, not the miniature Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, not the guys on the Strip handing out cards with explicit ads for a good time, not the billboards for Zumanity. But what I did find in questionable taste was an item at a gift shop in New York-New York, namely, a faux-license plate riddled with fake bullet holes and reading:

DONTA TOUCHA DA
MAFIA CAR

I’ve seen some bad license plates but I dare say this has got to be the worst.

Don’t get me wrong. I think “Born to Run” is a great song. But the greatest? I can think of some other contenders off hand, including the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby,” “Things We Said Today,” and “Norwegian Wood,” or even the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations.” And what about “Whole Lotta Love” and “Travelling Riverside Blues” by Zeppelin? Could there be a metaphor more eloquent than squeeze my lemon ’til the juice runs down my leg? And let’s not forget “Rocks Off” and “Beast of Burden” by the Stones.

I know Mr. Last is trying to get me on a U2 rant, but I will refrain. Just because I happen to think the live version of “Bad” (not the Michael Jackson song) featured on Wide Awake in America is the greatest of greatest live recordings of all time in the history of rock and roll history… What was I saying?