Well, it appears to be all over but the shouting for Supreme Court nominee and fashion disaster Harriet Miers:
As the White House seeks to rally senators behind the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers, lawyers for the Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are expressing dissatisfaction with the choice and pushing back against her, aides to 6 of the 10 Republican committee members said yesterday.
"Everybody is hoping that something will happen on Miers, either that the president would withdraw her or she would realize she is not up to it and pull out while she has some dignity intact," a lawyer to a Republican committee member said.
The real entertainment value now comes in watching how Miers and the administration explain it when she takes a hike. Whose decision will it be? And, more amusingly, how will it be justified?
Bush certainly can't claim that this nomination would be too difficult to confirm -- if all the Republicans fell neatly into line, all it would take is a small number of Democrats, and a goodly number of them have already publicly supported Miers. So there's no way Bush can spin this as an unwinnable confirmation without admitting that it would be the Republicans, not the Democrats, who would block it. I'm pretty sure that's not an admission Chimpy would care to make.
Could anyone defend her withdrawing as belatedly realizing that she's just not up to the task? Hardly. Remember, this is the woman who George himself, in a fit of eye-rolling hyperbole, described as absolutely the best-qualified candidate for the post. So suddenly she'd be unfit to serve? I'd love to see Scott McClellan defend that.
And what about the increasing grumbling about Miers from the hard-right, wingnut-o-sphere? Well, why should that matter? Remember, this is the administration that has, as their popularity has tanked, insisted that they have no interest in polls and govern instead based on what they think is right for the American people. Would it make any sense to suddenly admit that all those angry voices are going to dictate their policy and that, yes, popular opinion suddenly matters after all?
Any guesses as to how this is going to play out? And what the excuse of the day is going to be? And what total fucking lunatic Bush will offer up as a substitute?
BONUS TRACK: And credit where credit is due, this guy (who I've made fun of earlier) called it several days ago in a series of posts as to how Miers' nomination was doomed.
Now if only the rest of his stuff wasn't such insipid silliness, I might even read him on a regular basis.
2 comments:
I've thought from the beginning that this was a ploy to exhaust everyone on both sides in the fight to vote her down. Then he can nominate someone he really wants and everyone will be too tired to fight.
That suggestion has been made but it seems unlikely, given the genuine vitriol from so many sources.
I doubt even Rover Boy could have orchestrated something this devious, but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise.
I think it boils down to, 1) will Miers' nomination actually be pulled one way or the other and, if it is 2) who will be nominated in her place?
Also note that it's not the Dems who have been so up in arms over this. It's the right-wing lunatic fringe who have been foaming at the mouth. If anyone's going to be tired, it's them.
It remains to be seen how the Dems react to a bait-and-switch and, if history is any judge, they will screw the pooch like they always do.
(Apologies to Rick Santorum and pooch screwers everywhere.)
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