1981, Reagan, O'Connor, Viguerie & Bill Moyers [Archive]

Areopagus

15th October 2005, 07:15

I'd like to end on an upbeat note. I'd like to say I hope Richard and the other Christian "conservative leaders" who supported Mr. Bush's re-election have, finally, learned their lesson. I'd like to say that now, maybe, they will abandon the Republican Party, at the national level, and join the Constitution Party. But, I can't say this because I know these folks. They are slow-learners --- if they learn at all.

Link to full article:
http://www.theamericanview.com/index.php?id=332

The retirement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor brought back many memories of the time when President Ronald Reagan appointed her. Below is the cover of the August 1981 issue of Richard Viguerie’s “Conservative Digest” magazine which I edited at the time. In this issue we pointed out O’Connor’s terrible record which clearly disqualified her to be named to the high court by a supposedly conservative President.

As an Arizona State Senator she had, among other things, voted: For abortion-on-demand; for the Equal Rights Amendment; for abortion for minors without parental consent; for no-fault divorce; against a Constitutional amendment to protect human life; against an abortion prohibition at a state university hospital.

Speaking of Richard Viguerie, he is an old friend. But, like a lot of conservative Republicans, he is a slow-learner.

Another slow learner appears to have finally caught on.

The liberals play serious hard ball on a level playing field that has an extreme slope to the left. So, I just can’t imagine the Abortion Rights Action League, or People for the anti-American Way giving their Democrat players 6 strikes before being thrown out of the stadium.

The Red State Republicans are quite content to allow their team 6 tries...before slowly realizing that something is radically wrong with their farm team.
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/10/122005a.asp

In terms of Ms. Miers, none of us knows anything about her," Weyrich observes. "I've been around here for almost 40 years, and I've had in that time five 'trust me's' with regard to the Supreme Court -- and six is a bridge too far."

Weyrich remembers Richard Nixon saying "trust me" about Harry Blackmun, who authored the majority opinion on Roe v. Wade during his tenure on the high court; Gerald Ford saying "trust me" about John Paul Stevens; and former U.S. Solicitor General Ken Starr saying "trust me" on Sandra Day O'Connor. And he recalls similar assurances about now-Supreme Court justices Anthony Kennedy and David Souter.

"Not only did I get three calls from [former White House chief of staff] John Sununu [regarding Souter], but ... Meldrim Thompson, arguably the most right-wing governor [New Hampshire] ever to have served in modern times, ... said to me that he would stake his career on the idea that we would love David Souter," says Weyrich.

All five of those "trust me" nominees, says the conservative spokesman, wound up coming down on the liberal side of most high court rulings, despite being nominated by Republican presidents. He says it will take a "great performance" during confirmation hearings to win his support for Miss Miers, the latest "trust me" nominee offered by the White House.

Weyrich’s buddy, who started the Moral Majority, was also a victim of ‘In the Republican In Chief We Trust.’

http://www.lewrockwell.com/carson/carson17.html
"Reagan nominated a relatively unknown Arizona Appeals Court judge and former state senator, Sandra Day O'Connor, to replace Stewart.
Said Falwell, "I was at Myrtle Beach (South Carolina). The president called me and said, 'Jerry, I am going to put forth a lady on the (Supreme) Court. You don't know anything about her. Nobody does, but I want you to trust my judgement on this one.'
"I said, 'I'll do that.' The next day he announced the nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor. About two weeks later he called me again and said, 'Jerry, I've had a chance to talk to her, and my people have, and I can tell you that her views will not disappoint you, and I hope you can help me bring the troops in.' So I began calling conservatives, asking them to back off." Fast forward to June 29, 1992:http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0505_0833_ZO.html O'CONNOR, KENNEDY, SOUTER, JJ., Opinion of the Court, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES, 505 U.S. 833 Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Nos. 91-744, 91-902 : “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life.”