Miers Withdraws
The Democrats I heard on the radio this morning would have you believe that my proposed strategy of letting the right wingers duke it out over Harriet Miers' nomination worked, and that the reason she withdrew her nomination was that she wasn't able to convince the far right of her "conservative credentials". Harry Reid, for one, believes that she was eminently qualified to be a Supreme Court justice, and it was only those goofy hard-core conservatives who got in the way of her confirmation. [INSERT DOUBLE-TAKE HERE.]
Conservative senators such as Trent Lott, on the other hand, will tell you that there was no problem with Miers' views on abortion, religion, or gay rights; rather, the issue was with her experience and qualifications. [FEEL FREE TO GUFFAW LOUDLY.]
President Bush and Miers herself, after emphasizing their close personal relationship and answering questions from Senate Judiciary Committee members with, "the President is a great guy!" and "she's a pit bull in size 6 shoes, that Harriet!" would have you believe that the reason for her withdrawal was that the Democrats were hell-bent on digging into that close personal relationship, and that the only way to avoid violating both both attorney-client and Executive privilege (not to mention releasing confidential White House documents) was, regretfully, to back out now, before confirmation hearings began. [I got nothing. If George was so stupid as to believe "trust me, we're friends!" could take the place of a familiarity with constitutional law, a vast judicial—or at least legal—record, or participation in public debate on national issues, he's an even bigger idiot than both Reid and Lott. But then, we already knew that.]