What Captain Ed’s surrender portends

Sage McLaughlin writes:

I’m sorry to say it, sir, but when I saw your praise for Ed Morrissey earlier I just grinned and starting counting down the minutes until he disappointed you. Ed is very much an establishment man, and is not really a cultural or social conservative. It was only a matter of time before he had his little chat with the Man in the Mirror Shades and got his mind right.

So much for principle.

Well, Mr. McLaughlin sure didn’t have to count many minutes to see me get my comeuppance!

It seems to me, moreover, that Morrissey’s collapse has dark implications for this whole affair. Harriet Miers is so manifestly unqualified, and so many conservatives have been up in arms against her, that I had felt pretty certain that her nomination would either be withdrawn or defeated. But what if all these outraged conservatives are like Captain Ed—what if they’re not at bottom angry over the nominee, but only over the lack of respect (or, less damning, the lack of good communication) they feel they’re getting from the White House? What if all they really need is a little personal attention from a Bush lieutenant to get them back on board? In that case, this absurdly unqualified, non-conservative woman will soon be on the Supreme Court.

When the conservatives backed John Roberts despite his work for leftist causes I said that this signalled the end of the conservative movement. Could the conservative anger over Miers be nothing but the rage of a ghost who doesn’t yet realize he’s dead?

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 12, 2005 11:09 PM | Send