The American Spectator

Enemy of the Week

Now we know why homeowners often set traps in their garages. You never can tell what kind of press vermin they'll attract. So thanks to the Pulitzer Prize winners at the Associated Press, we've found out what besides his Jaguar Karl Rove keeps parked behind his garage doors. There's even a crate. Sounds like something stolen from Joe Wilson's garage. Coming next, live press reports from Rove's sewage system. There's got to be an indictment in there somewhere.

Despite ongoing opposition from David Frum, Harriet Miers remains the president's choice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. Charles Schumer showed signs of being confounded by the Miers nomination, particularly after he brought up the case of Meyer v. Nebraska during his private meeting with the nominee. Citing her own privacy requirements, Miers would neither confirm nor deny whether she is related to the Meyer in the Nebraska case. The White House is keeping its nose out of the fray this week, meaning it's not clear who's sniffing the air for signs of sexism. Glass ceilings, however, remain on the agenda. If Ms. Miers is confirmed, this could require moving the Supreme Court next door to the Library of Congress, which operates under a lovely fin de siecle skylight.

There are many good reasons to like Ms. Miers. They'll become more apparent as Democrats recommit to a future synonymous with retention of Roe v. Wade. Already we have our first hints of sexual foreplay. "She's a very, basically, I think rather shy person, and has a very soft manner. It's very pleasant, but it's a very soft manner," Sen. Dianne Feinstein cooed after an hour-long encounter with Ms. Miers. Which of course doesn't mean Di-Fi will go soft on the nomination. She just doesn't want Miers to be subjected to "sexist" criticism from conservatives. "I do not believe they would to do that to a man," she said. Then again, it's hard to imagine Feinstein describing any of them as "very pleasant" or having a "very soft manner."

In an uncharacteristic profile in courage, Sen. Edward Kennedy appeared ready to do some rowing and wading of his own on behalf of six stranded fisherman near Hyanissport last weekend. But before testing those political waters, Ted turned the rescue over to local officials who had no choice in the matter.

Judith Miller, the New York Times' Evita, continues to confound the mainstreamers. Although she did serious slammer time in defense of journalistic honor and integrity, her former colleagues are condemning her as a creature of the Halliburton-Chalabi cabal. Now Times editor Bill Keller could go the way of Howell Raines to Miller's Jayson Blair. At last report, Keller, a self-confessed "collapsed Catholic," was asking disgruntled staff to bear with him for defending Miller "even if the circumstances lack the comfort of moral clarity." How is it that those who reject traditional morality are always the first to be aware of moral considerations? By the way, according to most of the theologians on our payroll, moral clarity is a source of discomfort.

For an example of liberal clarity, we turn to Dr. E.J. Dionne, who now sees the whole array of Republican troubles as a fully warranted tit for tat for what was done to St. Bill Clinton. Thus everything under the sun, starting with the coming indictments of Rove-Libby-Cheney-Bush-Laura-Jenna-Mrs. Welch-and-Barney, moving on to the death sentences handed down to Tom DeLay and his Scottish caddies, and ending with Bill Frist's pending exile to Devil's Island, is the just deserts of those who kept Boy Clinton from his appointed rounds.

Still, you've got to admire the Clinton style. In one last go at obstruction of justice, John Podesta, a non-disbarred lawyer and former Clinton chief of staff, spent his Sunday at the Washington Post's op-ed page roughing up Clinton-era FBI director Louis Freeh in retaliation for what Freeh says in his new memoir about the president he served. It appears the real fight is over the book's title. Freeh calls it "My FBI." But all along Clinton claimed it was his FBI. Hence Clinton's own memoir could at least have been titled: "My Life: My FBI." Or if things had gone more smoothly: "My Life: My FBI: My Monica."

There's more humor where that came from. Podesta writes with tongue firmly swallowed, "A principal aim of the [Clinton] administration's aggressive diplomacy and intelligence work was to reduce the terrorist threat..." With comedians like that, who need enemies of the week?

topics:
Bill Clinton, Law, Supreme Court