News From the Future: Miers Will Be Confirmed; James Mason Still Great in Bigger Than Life

From the Wash Times:

White House counsel Harriet Miers will be sitting on the Supreme Court by Thanksgiving, Republican Senate leaders predicted yesterday, even though they face a fight from within their own ranks to get her confirmed.

Welcoming Miss Miers to the Senate, Majority Leader Bill Frist said she "understands judicial restraint" and called her a "pioneer" in Texas legal circles.

Boy that must be comforting--to have an embattled schmoe like Frist singing your praises: "'Harriet is a nomination that we are excited about, we are pleased with,'" he said as the nominee sat uncomfortably beside him in the glare of dozens of news cameras." Better still, Sen. Harry Reid--the Nevada Democrat who earlier this year called Bush "a loser"--really groks Miss Harriet, saying "I like Harriet Miers." Reid also apparently pushed Bush to nominate her.

So go figger. At this point, I'd like to think that Miers is some sort of diversion, the judicial equivalent of Operation Fortitude in WW2 (where the Allies faked like they were going to invade France at the Pas de Calais rather than Normandy). Only I'm not sure if Harry Reid or Bush is Eisenhower. And then who gets to play Rommel (as if either Bush or Reid could top James Mason)? And speaking of James Mason, I highly recommend Bigger Than Life, Nicholas Ray's great brief against public school teachers (Mason is the main character, all hopped-up on cortisone).

Whole Times bit, which also quotes a "judiciary aide" as saying the cons want to "debunk" Miers, here.

More Mason here.

Comments

[Brett]

Reid is smarter than I give him credit for if he pushed Bush to nominate her b/c of the rift it would potentially cause in the Republican party.

[panurge]

Kudos to Nick for mentioning BIGGER THAN LIFE. Another great film by Ray is THEY LIVE BY NIGHT, an aoutstanding example of the low-budget noir thriller. It has a truly great performances by Farley Granger, better known as the doe-eyed hero of Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, and underrated actress Cathy O'Donnell. Of course, it is infinately better than Robert Altman's remake THIEVES LIKE US.

[Chuck]

Rommel would have to be played by somebody with intelligence and keen insight. I don't think there is a Rommel to be had in this one.

[joe]

The phoney military command set up to provide the diversion was called the First United States Army Group, or FUSAG.

So, I think we should to try to get the word "fusag" incorporated as a noun meaning "an artifical, staged diversion."

[Douglas Fletcher]

"an artifical, staged diversion."

Sounds a little like your rhetorical style. 🙂