nathan hecht

Is Chivalry Dead in Texas?

nathan%20hecht%20harriet%20miers.jpeg Forget Kansas — what’s the matter with Texas?

Most guys get in trouble for talking smack about their ex-girlfriends. But down in the Lone Star State, if you say a few nice things about your ex-girlfriend, you can get in trouble too. This is most likely to happen if you’re a judge, you said those things in 120 interviews with the media, and your ex-girlfriend was seeking an appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court at the time.

Remember Nathan L. Hecht, the Texas Supreme Court justice who rushed to the aid of his erstwhile paramour, White House Counsel Harriet Miers, during her disastrous SCOTUS nomination? Well, now he’s being dragged before the Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct. The Commission is tsk-tsking him for trying to be a good ex-boyfriend, claiming that his public statements about Miers violated the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct, which forbids judges from “advanc[ing] the private interests of the judge or others.”

More details, after the jump.

Harriet Miers Seeks “Missed Connection”

And no, we’re not talking about her failed Supreme Court bid. A Wonkette operative recently sent us this celebrity sighting of the White House Counsel, which we originally planned to use in our next collection of Wonk’d items:

harriet miers new.jpg “In Pentagon Row, walking from Starbucks to Teeter to grab hangover-rememdy/breakfast makings Sunday morning. As I passed the Red Door spa I noticed a grey-haired woman wearing a business suit and trench coat, odd given that everyone else was either out in running gear or sweats.”

“I look up to give a courtesy nod and realize it’s one-time SCOTUS nominee/Ozzy Osbourne Doppleganger Harriet Miers! Homegirl looks EXACTLY the same in person as on TV, down to the unmistakable black eyeliner and red lipstick. I tried to smile and considered saying something, but Hattie looked pretty busy. Besides, what was I going to tell her — that I thought about dressing up as Harriet Miers for Halloween? Dubious.”

But then we decided this sighting deserved a post of its own, after coming across this Craigslist posting on Missed Connections, from a woman seeking a man she spotted in Pentagon Row, on Sunday morning:

I was meeting my friend (the redhead) outside of Harris Teeter in Pentagon Row on Sunday morning. You were walking right behind her and as I hugged her, I briefly caught your eye. A little later, we saw each other again at Starbucks where I was drinking my coffee, but you left so quickly. …and what could say…? You were carrying a Bed, Bath and Beyond bag. I’d love to have coffee with you sometime. If you think this might be you, drop me a line.

ann veneman.jpg You think we’re kidding, right? Oh, ye of little faith! We even know who the redhead friend is: Ann Veneman, former Secretary of Agriculture and longtime Miers pal!

Harriet, we know that your losing Nathan Hecht to Priscilla Owen broke your heart. But there has got to be a more promising way to meet eligible men than Missed Connections!

Earlier: The Harriet Files: Her Lost Love?
Special Report! Harriet and Nathan and Priscilla and Us

SPECIAL REPORT! Harriet and Nathan and Priscilla and Us

Bizarre Love Triangle-1-1 Wonkette operatives have turned up an interesting fillip in the Harriet Miers-Nathan Hecht-Priscilla Owen bizarre love triangle: “The Harriet effect.” Speaking of the mid-1990s , when Owen first joined Hecht on the Texas Supreme Court, our operative reports:

If Owen and Hecht were at an event and Miers would show up, there were frequently scenes with Owen snarking at Hecht and stomping out, in full view of many, with Hecht left to calm [Owen] down. Some Texas judicial observers said you can actually chart the “Harriet fights” by the few times Owen and Hecht didn’t vote the same way.

Ah! Wrath of woman scorned and whatnot. Wonkette investigates —after the jump!

Fred Becker Decodes the Note: “Tedious, Self-Congratulatory, Inane”

Wonkette’s Strunk and White correspondent, Fred Becker, read the Note today. He Notes:

My lovely Wonkenfurter,

Today I have officially decided that the Note has become the flabby old man muttering to himself in the corner of the Elk’s lodge. He’s alone because with each passing year he has added one more glug of cologne the way each day The Note seems to add one more tedious, self-congratulatory, inane gale of writing. My favorite today:
We are still amazed by the lack of a White House handle on Miers record, by the lack of un-Hechtian surrogates, by the things that come out of Judge Hecht’s mouth, by the only memorable thing Sen. Coats has said so far in “support” of Miers, by the apparent failure to think through the Dobson thing and the Richard Land thing…
Here, let me help: “thing: quote, statement, situation, controversy”… Ah, what good could it do? At this advanced stage (apparently they’re “doodling on their jeans” already) the flabby old man’s repeated use of the cologne has dulled his senses so that he sadly cannot tell what’s the matter. Nevertheless, each night after straightening his medallions and arranging his thinning hair he dumps another bucket of the Dakar Noir over his head in the hopes that finally someone, anyone will notice him.

Until then,
I remain,
In search of the serial comma,
Fred Becker

“Really a Unique Person” (sic) [ABC]

Hecht Rises to Salute Miers

Harrietatherfirstchurchoftheday Court watchers can dither over Harriet Miers’s qualifications or lack thereof — but what does it say about her that her strongest proponent (next to the President) is her ex? Nathan Hecht has been barn-storming on her behalf since the announcement, popping up in every form of media possible as well as, more literally, popping up from the pew: Yesterday, he led a standing ovation for Miers at the former couple’s evangelical church (her second church of the day!) as the pastor joked, “Nathan is going to write a new book about dating. I think Harriet’s going to co-author it.”

Ha. Ha-ha. I think I read that! “Rubyfruit Jungle,” right? Just kidding. No one who so vigorously publicizes a past heterosexual relationship could be gay. Probably just very, very busy.

Miers gets standing ovation at church [AP]

Daily Briefing: Roberts Enjoys ‘Rapid Give-and-Take’

• Conservatives express disappointment with Miers during “tense” meetings with administration officials; “rarely have [conservatives] been so openly distrustful of the president himself.” Lott: “Is she the most qualified person? Clearly, the answer to that is ‘no’… you have to also look at what has been her level of decisiveness and competence, and I don’t have enough information on that yet.” [WP, WP, NYT, LAT, WT, USAT]
• Senate votes 90-9 to limit interrogation of detainees in the Middle East and at Guantanamo Bay; represents a “new boldness among Republicans to challenge the White House on war policy.” [WP, WSJ, NYT]
• Former White House security official may have passed classified documents to the Philippines. [WP, NYT, USAT]
• Republicans are divided over extent of budget cuts. [WP]
• CIA will not hold current or former officials accountable for failure to prevent 9/11. Kristin Breitweiser: “[Porter Goss] is either avoiding embarrassment or trying to hide something.” [WP]

The Harriet Files: Her Lost Love?

Bizarre Love Triangle-1 Curiouser and curiouser: Harriet Miers’s one-time squeeze, Nathan Hecht, also used to date would-be SCOTUS nom and left-wing boogeywoman Priscilla Owen. Say this about Hecht, he has a type. From Texas we hear conflicting reports about the sizzliness of the hookups. One correspondent contends that Hecht and Miers didn’t date so much as take each other to dinner: “I clerked for the Court during one of the terms that he was on it. Seeing them together, it was hard to imagine (both difficult and nauseating) them being intimate because both seemed so stiff. (And not stiff in the fun way.)” Another operative insists that it got (ahem) ugly, and that Owens and Miers had a “catfight” over their hunk of manmeat, though it’s unclear who won. Did either of them fight like a girl?