Demagogue

Manuel Miranda's newest column begins and concludes thusly

Three years ago Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) stood on the floor of the Senate and said: "Mr. President, I take the opportunity today to right a wrong. Over the past two years, members of the Federalist Society have been much maligned by some of my Democrat colleagues, no doubt because they see political advantage in doing so. The Federalist Society has even been presented as an 'evil cabal' of conservative lawyers. Its members have been subjected to questions that remind one of the McCarthy hearings of the early 1950s. Detractors have painted a picture which is surreal, twisted and untrue."

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Rather than assist the left in creating a conservative bogeyman, here is a user-friendly defense of the Federalist Society: Again, the words are Orrin Hatch's. The Federalist Society stands for three propositions, he said: "that government's essential purpose is the preservation of freedom; that our Constitution embraces and requires separation of governmental powers; and that judges should interpret the law, not write it. For the vast majority of Americans, these are not controversial issues."

As Orrin Hatch concluded in his speech three years ago: The Federalist Society is "not quite the vast right-wing conspiracy hobgoblin some [Democrats] would have the American people believe." And it's nothing that a Republican White House should appear to repudiate.

It is a bit odd that Miranda would so approvingly cite Hatch, considering that he believes Hatch betrayed him by refusing to defend him when Memogate broke

I do admit that reading Democrats' documents on an unprotected server to help defend the president's embattled nominees was political hardball, and I have learned that one shouldn't play hardball with a limp-wristed team captain.

Since then, Miranda has repeatedly savaged Hatch, at one point even challenging him to a public debate.

Yet just one year later, here we have Miranda glowingly quoting Hatch. What gives?

Well, now that I think about it, what was Miranda doing "three years ago?"

According to the Pickle Report

Mr. Miranda joined the staff of the Judiciary Committee in December 2001.

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In January 2003, Mr. Miranda left the Judiciary Committee and took a position in the office of Majority Leader Frist.

Hmmm ... I wonder who was the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee at that time?

Why, it was Orrin Hatch.

What a coincidence! Miranda just happened to be working for Hatch on the issue of judicial nominations at the exact same time that Hatch delivered his "Federalist Society - Setting the Record Straight" speech on July 26, 2002 - the very same speech Miranda is now quoting.

You don't suppose that Miranda had anything to do with the drafting of Hatch's Federalist Society remarks do you?

Do you think that Miranda might be, while approvingly quoting Hatch (a man he clearly despises,) actually quoting a speech that he wrote for Hatch?

Nah, probably not. After all, a man who admits to accessing and reading thousands of internal Democratic memos and then defends his actions by claiming that his "parents never taught me not to read other people's mail" would never do something so dishonest. Would he?