Many on the right are complaining that Harriet Miers is not sufficiently ideological. But Vice President Cheney, for his part, is trying to sell Miers as another Scalia or Thomas. Here is Cheney today on Sean Hannity’s radio show:

HANNITY: So in that sense, the President’s promise, you believe, has been fulfilled, and that is that she fits the mold of a Scalia and a Thomas?

CHENEY: I do.

Cheney added that Bush didn’t pick Myers to avoid controversy: “He’s not a President who avoids a fight — he likes a good fight.”

for Tom DeLay. This time for money laundering, ABC News reports.

In 1992, Colorado adopted a state constitutional amendment – dubbed the “Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights” or TABOR – that limits the annual growth of Colorado’s state budget to a strict formula. Annual growth in their budget must be less than the annual growth of population plus inflation.

Conservative groups are pushing for similar limits across the country. Stateline.org reported in March, “The states considering TABOR-like amendments this year are Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Wisconsin.”

Yesterday, right-wing columnist George Will opined, “Tabor has been spectacularly successful.” If he means that it has successfully gutted Colorado’s ability to provide basic public services, he’d be right.

Colorado has the nation’s seventh-highest per-capita income. But according to data from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:

- Colorado ranks 47th in K-12 education funding as a share of state income.

- Colorado ranks 50th in the nation in on-time immunization rates.

- The share of low-income individuals enrolled in Medicaid is lower than in all but five other states.

- Colorado has eliminated its affordable housing loans and grants program.

- Due to underfunding, court hearings that are required by statute to occur within two days of a filing routinely take 30 days.

Colorado’s story should be a warning to all those states now considering TABOR amendments.

Lately, Jeb has been taking strong positions against his brother’s policies –

Federalizing Disaster Response

President: “Clearly, in the case of a terrorist attack, that would be the case, but is there a natural disaster — of a certain size — that would then enable the Defense Department to become the lead agency in coordinating and leading the response effort?…That’s going to be a very important consideration for Congress to think about.”

Jeb: “There is almost no support among the nation’s governors for President Bush’s suggestion that the Pentagon could take the lead in responding to catastrophic natural disasters…Half the state chief executives said they were opposed or had reservations, including Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president’s brother.”

Immigration

President:“We’re determined to stop the enemy before they can strike our people.” This strategy includes tightening restrictions on foreign student visas and decreasing the number of students allowed to study in the United States.

Jeb: If he had “two ‘fairy godmother’ wishes, one would be to create more scholarships for foreign students in order to generate ‘a strong cadre of leaders’ overseas with an intimate understanding of the United States, and to make the immigration service more efficient….[T]ightening of immigration rules was necessary after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks…but enough time has passed for ‘a systemic review of policies and procedures.’”

Read more

signs a $1.2 million book deal with Simon & Schuster, according to Arianna Huffington.

on Harriet Miers: “She’s the kind of person you want in your corner when all the chips are being played.”

“I know of nothing in Harriet Miers’ background that would qualify her for an appointment to the Supreme Court,” says Roger Pilon, director of Cato’s Center for Constitutional Studies.

The Washington Post recently reported that Bush might go with a Supreme Court nominee that would soothe his conservative political base:

The president’s core supporters are urging bold action to sway the court to the right. Some think Bush might pick a hard-liner to keep his base happy and prevent a further drop in the polls.

It looks like Bush did just the opposite. Here what some conservatives are saying about the Miers nomination:

Michelle Malkin: “What Julie Myers is to the Department of Homeland Security, Harriet Miers is to the Supreme Court. It’s not just that Miers has zero judicial experience. It’s that she’s so transparently a crony/’diversity’ pick while so many other vastly more qualified and impressive candidates went to waste. If this is President Bush’s bright idea to buck up his sagging popularity–among conservatives as well as the nation at large–one wonders whom he would have picked in rosier times. Shudder.”

National Review’s David Frum: “The Miers nomination, though, is an unforced error. “¦ [N]obody would describe her as one of the outstanding lawyers in the United States.”

American Spectator Blog: ” There is now talk of among some conservatives about a filibuster of the Miers nomination. “¦According to several White House sources, few inside the building took the possibility of a Miers nomination seriously. Now that it’s a reality, they are stunned. ‘We passed up Gonzales for this?’ was one conservative staffer’s reaction.”

Read more

“Disappointed, Depressed and Demoralized.”

George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley shares his views about the Myers selection:

Watch in QuickTime Streaming.

Transcript below: Read more