Richard Viguerie: "The Emperor Has No Clothes"

Listen to the segment with Richard Viguerie

Listen to the full show on Republican disappointment with the Miers nomination

The day the Harriet Miers nomination was announced, Richard Viguerie published an open letter titled Conservatives Feel Betrayed: President Bush Blinks on Supreme Court Nominees. He wasn’t alone, of course, but Viguerie is an important bellwether. He’s not a blogger, furious but effective only with a swarm of like-minded other bloggers; he’s a Republican fundraiser. And not just any fundraiser, either, he’s a direct-mail pioneer who’s been called the funding father of the conservative movement.

So here’s the point: regardless of whether or not Miers is appointed, Viguerie sounds livid, and is not sugar-coating his response. This is not just about a Supreme Court nomination, it’s about a slap in the face to money and volunteers and votes that may not feel like coming out to support the Republican party in 2006.

You can listen to the whole segment above, but here’s a little taste of his fury from our show the other night.

He said in the campaign he wants judges like Scalia and Thomas and now he’s saying, well, I like her character, she’s smart, I know her well, I trust her, she won’t change her mind for the next twenty years. Well he forgot to tell us those were characteristics we didn’t know that. We thought it was Scalia and Thomas, not that she was supposed to be smart and that she liked her.

Richard Viguerie

It’s time to say the Emperor has no clothes on … we need to let everybody know this is not what conservatives believe in, and we’re parting company with this president.

Richard Viguerie

Republicans are royalists, Chris. The king is the king, long live the king.

Richard Viguerie

For the first time in my lifetime, and that goes back a long time, we’ve got it all, 55 Senators, and the president ran from the fight. He looked the Democrats in the eye, and he blinked, and he gave them the battle.

Richard Viguerie