Dr. Dobson to Set the Record Straight on Miers Flap

Here is partial transcript of today's radio show. You can read the full transcript here. There are two parts of the transcript I think are of most interest to those following the Miers nomination.

The key part of the conversation is where he talks about the list being cut short because most of the judges on the list took their names out themselves. The fact is, if Bush was not able to appoint a more qualified candidate, it is because the Democrats have politicized this process and NO intelligent individual would want to submit himself or herself to the vicious circus its been made. Of course, Bush cannot go out and say, "I had no choice, all my first choices are not available."

I think we need to give it time for the facts to come out. Read on.

The first related to the list being cut short:

But we also talked about something else, and I think this is the first time this has been disclosed. Some of the other candidates who had been on that short list, and that many conservatives are now upset about were highly qualified individuals that had been passed over. Well, what Karl told me is that some of those individuals took themselves off that list and they would not allow their names to be considered, because the process has become so vicious and so vitriolic and so bitter, that they didn't want to subject themselves or the members of their families to it.

So, even today, many conservatives and many of 'em friends of mine, are being interviewed on talk shows and national television programs. And they're saying, "Why didn't the President appoint so-and-so? He or she would have been great. They had a wonderful judicial record. They would have been the kind of person we've been hoping and working and praying for to be on the Court." Well, it very well may be that those individuals didn't want to be appointed.

Fuller: For understandable reasons, because the grilling that they get in that confirmation process is just brutal.

The second part of interest related to the non-juicy information:

Dobson: So, what was it that I couldn't talk about? The answer has everything to do with timing. It's very important to remember that when I first made that statement about knowing things that I shouldn't know, and shared that with my colleagues the day that the President made his announcement, maybe two or three hours after his press conference.

And then, that very night, I went on the Brit Hume program -- the FOX News program -- and. . . and talked about the President's nomination. And then, the following day --Tuesday -- I recorded a statement for FOF, which was heard on Wednesday. And that is the last time that I said that I had information that was confidential and that I really couldn't talk about.

Why? Because what I was told by Karl Rove had been confirmed and reported from other sources by that time.

What did Karl Rove say to me that I knew on Monday that I couldn't reveal? Well, it's 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 couldn't talk about it on Tuesday. In fact, Brit Hume said, "What church does she go to?" And I said, "I don't think it's up to me to reveal that." Do you remember my saying that?

Fuller: I do, yes.

Dobson: What I meant was, I couldn't get into this. But by Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, all this information began to come out and it was no longer sensitive. I didn't have the right to be the one that revealed it and that's what I was referring to.

Fuller: Well, I'd also guess, Doctor, that the answer you gave here about the contents of that conversation and why you couldn't divulge some of those matters, won't satisfy the senators on the judiciary committee, who were looking for some red meat.

If you want to hear the entire show, the MP3 Audio is available here. You can read previous post on this story here. There are a lot of comments over at ConfirmThem.com.

Tags: Politics, Rove, Karl Rove, White House, George Bush, Dobson, Miers, SCOTUS, Schumer