Miers withdraws

[Lyle]

Well, it looks like we won't have Harriet Miers to kick around anymore.

link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9837151/)

[miloblithe]

I guess she hadn't finished her homework that was due today.

[PlaceofDis]

awesome, but i doubt we will get anyone all that better in there honestly

Bush will just nominate another stooge

[miloblithe]

And on social issues, she might have been the best we could have done. Now he might be forced to appeal to the far right and nominate someone truly scary.

[tristan]

Some pundit (I forget who, I watch too many political shows) said that the decision was more or less made last week. The republican senators would push for more information on the nominee, and Bush would resist, citing "executive privilege". So since the two sides would be so far apart, the nomination would have to be withdrawn. So basically the whole thing was a charade to pull the nomination and save some face. (Not much.)

[StarbucksSam]

Good. Nobody liked her. If the Republicans didn't like her, she didn't stand a chance. Unfortunately, now we'll have some ultra-conservative Hitler Youth nominee and the conservatives might be able to push him/her through. Oy vey.

[miloblithe]

now we'll have some ultra-conservative Hitler Youth nominee...

No. The Pope's already got a job.

[Thomas Veil]

I was half expecting this. I'd heard the rumor a few days ago.

And on social issues, she might have been the best we could have done. Now he might be forced to appeal to the far right and nominate someone truly scary.Yeah, that's what bothers me about it too. I think we're about to go from bad to worse.

Another thing that bothers me: Miers will become the new Bork, i.e., a rallying point around which the neocons will play victim and cry for revenge.

[iGary]

Hello Mr. Gonzales. :eek:

[mactastic]

Hello Mr. Gonzales. :eek:
He needs a quick sex change. Put him in a dress and we'll talk. :p

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The funny thing about this is that after all the caterwauling from the right about how it would be so unfair if the Democrats 'Borked' Miers, and then it turns out that the right wing of her own party 'Borked' her! Delicious irony.

And please, the documents are the sticking point? When documents were asked for on Roberts there was stony silence until the hearings were held. This is just a charade of a reason.

Now, lets see what happens. Gonzales would probably be able to get through the Senate hearings. But he'll face the same opposition from the extreme right wing that Miers faced. If Bush nominates a Rogers-Brown or an Owen -- which is what the radical right wants more than anything -- Bush will have the fight of his presidency on his hands at a time when he has about zero political capital to spend.

The 'movement' conservatives want this fight bad. They'll even take the loss and take that to the election as reason to elect more conservatives. The WH obviously doesn't want this fight. If they did they would have put forth that nominee in the first place.

One final note. Poor Sandra Day O'Connor. All she wants is to retire and spend some time with her husband who is in the early stages of Alzhiemers -- which she very much deserves.

[mactastic]

Miers will become the new Bork, i.e., a rallying point around which the neocons will play victim and cry for revenge.
I'd say it's pretty hard to drum up 'victim' sympathies for a self-inflicted wound.

[3rdpath]

Overall, I'm glad to see her go. Part of me wanted her on the SC just because the GOP disliked her so much, but truly she was not of the calibre for the highest court in the land.

I wonder if the timing of her resignation was chosen to help distract from the looming Fitzma's...or is it just another element of the self-inflicted perfect storm that has besieged the whitehouse?

Either way, I haven't seen an administration crater like this since the Nixon era.

[tristan]

Yeah, one lightweight is enough. (Word is that Clarence Thomas is pretty dim.)

[IJ Reilly]

Overall, I'm glad to see her go. Part of me wanted her on the SC just because the GOP disliked her so much, but truly she was not of the calibre for the highest court in the land.

I wonder if the timing of her resignation was chosen to help distract from the looming Fitzma's...or is it just another element of the self-inflicted perfect storm that has besieged the whitehouse?

Either way, I haven't seen an administration crater like this since the Nixon era.

I think the White House was stuck between a rock and a hard place entirely of their own creation. If they'd waited until tomorrow or a few days later to throw in the towel on Miers, on the heals of Fitzpatrick, they'd risk looking like an administration in full donnybrook mode. This way at least the Miers story gets buried fairly quickly under the next big story. Making the best of a terrible situation, is the way I read it.

[3rdpath]

I think the White House was stuck between a rock and a hard place entirely of their own creation. If they'd waited until tomorrow or a few days later to throw in the towel on Miers, on the heals of Fitzpatrick, they'd risk looking like an administration in full donnybrook mode. This way at least the Miers story gets buried fairly quickly under the next big story. Making the best of a terrible situation, is the way I read it.

I agree, Miers was the only portion of this circus that Bush & Co. could control and they had to do something sooner than later.

But I also wonder if this administration fully grasps that the media is finally seeing Bush's deeds as a cumulative comedy of errors. Many of the reports I've read or heard lump Katrina/Brown, the Iraq war, Plamegate and Miers together regardless of which individual story is the actual focus.

The stories won't bury and there's no getting beyond the big picture...this administration is in serious trouble.

[Dont Hurt Me]

And on social issues, she might have been the best we could have done. Now he might be forced to appeal to the far right and nominate someone truly scary.
Thats kind of how i see it.:eek:

[mactastic]

I'm just wondering what happened to 'every nominee deserves an up-or-down vote'.

The same people who were demanding nothing less for Roberts are the one's who held Mier's nomination hostage. The reason? She didn't pass their litmus test on Roe v. Wade. Duh.

But the official explanation is that those nasty Democrats were going to demand Bush produce documents, so we have to fold our tent and go home. Heh... that's about as weak as you can get.

So what will it be? Will Bush pander to his base instead of the center? Will we get an Owens? In this political climate, are there enough conservatives in the Senate willing to 'go nuclear'? Or is Bush calculating that he is too weak to push someone like that through? And if so, can he risk alienating his base with 3 1/2 years left of his presidency?

[leekohler]

Glad she's gone. Her nomination was a mistake from the beginning.

[StarbucksSam]

No. The Pope's already got a job.

That's true. But I still want to find Harriet Miers a personal shopper.

[Sayhey]

Hello Mr. Gonzales. :eek:

I don't think so. He won't have anyone but the President supporting him. Not conservative enough for the wingnuts and that "torture thing" spoils any support from Dems. He'd go the same way as Miers.

I'm thinking Bush is going to give the next nomination over to the far right and we are going to have a filibuster and a huge fight.

[zimv20]

i wonder if miers will go back to heading the SCOTUS search committee.

[mactastic]

I don't think so. He won't have anyone but the President supporting him. Not conservative enough for the wingnuts and that "torture thing" spoils any support from Dems. He'd go the same way as Miers.
I'm not so sure. Bush doesn't need the wingnuts anymore, and he ultimately has to sway Senators, not wingnuts. If he picks a moderate like Gonzalez, he could afford to sacrifice up to 5 GOP extremists.

The flip side is, the Senators in the majority right now I think realize that if things go badly for them over the next year they could conceivably find themselves out of power. Thus they are not as inclined to vote for a judge who gets the wingnut stamp of approval if they don't have a solidly red state backing them.

I'm thinking Bush is going to give the next nomination over to the far right and we are going to have a filibuster and a huge fight.
Four months ago I would have said no question. Now I don't think Bush or the Senate GOP have the balls for the fight their base wants them to wage.

If Bush thought he could have gotten Priscilla Owen on the SCOTUS, he wouldn't have nominated Miers. I think he's going to look to nominate another Roberts. Just my opinion.

[3rdpath]

i wonder if miers will go back to heading the SCOTUS search committee.

I heard today that she is back on the search team....that's gotta be a bit deflating.

[mactastic]

I heard today that she is back on the search team....that's gotta be a bit deflating.
Heh... So we'll be getting the second most qualified person in the nation on the court. Nice.

You guys have fun celebrating Fitzmas. I'm hitting the road, gonna be out of town for a few days helping my sister start the rebuild on their new place so they can move in in the not-to-distant future.

I'm sure it'll be one hell of a party. Save me some cake! :p

[solvs]

That's true. But I still want to find Harriet Miers a personal shopper.
I think Condi's going to need a new job in a few years. And if she was able to shop during Katrina, she can shop anytime. :p I am kinda scared for who he'll pick next, but confident that the moderate Repubs like Spectre won't let it go too far. Plus, if they do get someone too conservative, it'll be harder to play victim if they're completely getting their way on everything. Not that they don't try now.