Informed Speculation

Patrick Ruffini continues his excellent work at the RNC; I’ve just got off the line of the second blogger conference call he has arranged (you can read about the first one here). This time around, we spoke with former Texas Supreme Court Justice Craig Enoch and RNC Communications Director Jim Dyke.

A summary:

Patrick Ruffini welcomed everyone and said he wanted to give us an on-the-ground view from someone who knew and had worked with Harriet Miers over the years. At that point he turned things over to Mr. Enoch, who gave us some background on himself and his relationship with Miers. Mr. Enoch mentioned Miers’ concern for those less fortunate, a point he would emphasize again later when he stressed her work on making sure all Americans have access to the legal system. Mr. Enoch said their friendship was not based on social factors, but rather on the respect that she earned from him through their association in a professional capacity.

Ian Schwartz of the Political Teen asked if Mr. Enoch knew if Ms. Miers had strong convinctions concerning Roe vs. Wade or gay marriage. Mr. Enoch said Ms. Miers had strong convictions, but they were convinctions about how to handle cases (judicial restraint) (Ian’s account is here).

My question was to Mr. Dyke; I asked him whether he thought, regardless of the outcome of the Miers nomination, that the dismay of parts of the base over the selection would harm the Republican chances of retaining control in 2006, or whether there was a strategy to prevent that from happening. Someone said that sounds like more of an RNC question; Justice Enoch said he he’d like to take a shot at it, and said that he thought that there was quite of bit of jumping the gun among the punditry, particularly as regards the qualifications of Miers. Then Brian(?) of the RNC said that we needed to keep in mind that we probably won’t have a real clear picture of 2006 until August or so, if ‘94, ‘98, and ‘02 were any guide.

I always miss the question after me (well, I’m 2 for 2 anyway) while I’m busy second-guessing my approach…apologies for that. If any other participant cares to help me out, please do so in the comments…UPDATE: Tim Chapman of Townhall was after me, says Ian (check out his account here, and he says he’ll have a full transcript later)…

Paul Mirengoff of Power Line: I agree Miers is well-qualified, but I think we would like some concrete evidence of her conservatism. Can you give us some of her stands on substantive conservative issues? Enoch said rather than sue to gain entrance to closed areas, she worked her tail off and set an example of how to get there on merit. He also said Miers was an advocate of access to justice for all. Enoch said he was very confident that Miers understands the roles of judges in a way that is compatible with a conservative approach (i.e., not an activist, legislative bench).

The Anchoress asked Craig Enoch if he could give assurance that Ms. Miers would be a legend like the Model T and not Edsel. Enoch again stressed that he did not have to ask Ms. Miers questions about how she would handle situations, he saw her in action and knew the kind of woman she was (the account of the Anchoress is here).

Don Surber asked what Enoch’s credentials were, after saying that Texas and West Virginia were judicial ‘hellholes’ (!). Enoch complied with examples of his role in bringing a more conservative approach to the judiciary in Texas. Enoch also gave some praise to the role of bloggers in keeping the public well-informed about issues that might otherwise get short shrift.

Overall, I think the Paul Mirengoff exchange was the most illuminating. Mr. Enoch painted a picture of a hard-working woman who earned the respect of those around her and rose through the ranks on merit, an important response, I think, to the cronyism charge. After all, though Bush is perhaps too close to Miers to have comfortably avoided the appearance, it’s not as if Miers were someone who had no experience at high levels of the legal world.

Once again, thanks so much to Patrick and the other people at the RNC who have been so kind as to allow us to directly participate in the process, and thanks also to Craig Enoch for making himself available and being so gracious with his time and experiences.