Focus on the Family founder James Dobson has published a transcript of a radio program about Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers that is scheduled to air tomorrow morning. Dobson was an early and ardent supporter of Miers following a conversation with Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove on October 1st.
Democrats have threatened to force Dobson to testify as a result of his private conservations with Rove and his public statement that he knew information that he "couldn't talk about" and "maybe shouldn't even know".
On his program, Dobson states,
I am going to make their job easier (Laughter), because in the next few minutes, I'm gonna tell them what I would say to them if I were sitting before the judiciary committee.He reiterated his rationale for supporting Miers which included:[snip]
What did Karl Rove say to me that I knew on Monday that I couldnt reveal? Well, its what we all know now, that Harriet Miers is an Evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life, that she had taken on the American Bar Association on the issue of abortion and fought for a policy that would not be supportive of abortion, that she had been a member of the Texas Right to Life. In other words, there is a characterization of her that was given to me before the President had actually made this decision. I could not talk about that on Monday. I couldnt talk about it on Tuesday. In fact, Brit Hume said, What church does she go to? And I said, I dont think its up to me to reveal that.
[snip]
We did not discuss Roe v. Wade in any context or any other pending issue that will be considered by the Court. I did not ask that question. You know, to be honest, I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe v. Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that and Im certain that he didnt, because the President himself said he didnt know, Karl would not have told me that. Thats the most incendiary information thats out there and it was never part of our discussion.
Well, my reasons for supporting her were twofold, John. First, because Karl Rove had shared with me her judicial philosophy which was consistent with the promises that President Bush had made when he was campaigning.Charmaine Yoest, who gets the hat tip, comments,And I quickly followed up on that conversation and got glowing reports from a federal judge in Texas, Ed Kinkeade and a Texas Supreme Court justice, Nathan Hecht, who is highly respected and has known Harriet Miers for more than 25 years. And so, we talked to him and we talked to some others who are acquainted with Ms. Miers.
So there are no bombshells here. Those looking for the other shoe to drop will be disappointed.But I predict the Democrats will still bring Dobson up to testify."
