{"id":4726,"date":"2005-07-18T11:23:21","date_gmt":"2005-07-18T15:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=4726"},"modified":"2005-07-18T11:23:21","modified_gmt":"2005-07-18T15:23:21","slug":"hardly-a-candidate-for-martyrdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/hardly-a-candidate-for-martyrdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardly a candidate for martyrdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Michael Kinsley asked a question<\/a> over the weekend that I’ve long pondered: “What does it take in Washington to be so thoroughly discredited that nobody cares what you think?” Kinsley was referring to Newt Gingrich, but it’s so easily applicable to so many.<\/p>\n

Perhaps an even better example than the former Speaker is Manuel Miranda, who is not only quoted constantly<\/a> in the media, but who is also principally responsible for organizing far-right groups and leaders to help shape the fight over Bush’s judicial nominees, including the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Journalists, the White House, the conservative movement, and Republicans on the Hill treat this guy like a serious player. Worse, as Michael Crowley noted<\/a> in the current issue of The New Republic, most Republicans actually think of Miranda as a right-wing martyr making a comeback.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to imagine someone less qualified for the role of right-wing martyr than Miranda. We’re dealing with a man who stole thousands of documents<\/a> from Dems on the Senate Judiciary Committee between 2001 and 2003, and is currently the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation<\/a>. He worked for Sens. Hatch and Frist, before he was forced to resign in disgrace.<\/p>\n

And yet, there’s Miranda, leading the charge to stack the federal judiciary — and the Supreme Court — with far-right activists and being treated by the mainstream media as a credible figure who warrants attention.<\/p>\n

…Manuel Miranda seemed destined to become a forgotten footnote of Washington political history. But the latest round of the judicial wars — and particularly the upcoming showdown over the Supreme Court — have offered this media-savvy ideological warrior a chance to rehabilitate his reputation and to perform that sublime American feat of turning disgrace into fame.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Asked to explain his actions, including obvious theft, Miranda told TNR<\/a>: “You have no ethical duty to your opposition.”<\/p>\n

It’s something I’ll never really understand about the conservative worldview. If you’re a Republican who gets caught doing something wrong, even criminally, all you really need in order to thrive politically is a) to be criticized by Dems; and b) to wait a little while. Forever more, the right will not only act as if all is forgiven; you’ll actually be a hero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Kinsley asked a question over the weekend that I’ve long pondered: “What does it take in Washington to be so thoroughly discredited that nobody cares what you think?” Kinsley was referring to Newt Gingrich, but it’s so easily applicable to so many. Perhaps an even better example than the former Speaker is Manuel Miranda, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4726\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}