Original post - 9:43 a.m.: Hold that TV ad! The White House pulls the plug on Hurricane Harriet. Bloomberg version (with conservative revolt!)
Miers's Letter to the President
Bush's Statement
The Washington Times has more insights into how the withdrawal came to be, includng the "abandon ship" move by a key pro-Miers player.
By yanking the Miers nomination, Mr. Bush has avoided an embarassing confirmation hearing, for Ms. Miers, and for him... but now, the president finds himself with an uncomfortable choice: further kow-tow to the chattering classes within his own party by giving them their Luttig or McConnell or Rogers-Brown, essentially admitting that they, and not he, are in charge (and finding a way to explain how that person could possibly be the second most qualified person for the job, after Ms. Miers)... or, flipping the insurgent base the bird by putting up someone confirmable on both sides, but still unsatisfactory to David Frum and the neocons (whom Bush probably isn't too fond of these days).
Tea leaves: Clearly, Bush cannot now, as Pat Buchanan so brilliantly put it, go running down the halls of the West Wing looking for a woman (and grabbing the first one he bumps into as he seems to have done with Harriet). He cannot appear to be making yet another "affirmative action" pick to fill the "O'Connor seat" -- meaning a woman -- on the Court. To make that clear, Bush would have to go with a male nominee (Orrin Hatch? Ted Olson -- whom Democrats would detest because of his ties to Bush v. Gore, which he argued before the Supreme Court -- correction to earlier post where I incorrectly tied him to the Clinton impeachment... my hat, my hand...), or as I've said before, Bush's dad?).
On the other hand, Bush is in serious trouble these days. He will need his base behind him for the fights -- legal and otherwise -- ahead. To rally the troops, he would have to bow down and give them what they want. In doing so, he would spark a more traditional Democrat-Republican battle on the Hill and in the punditocracy, which just might distract from those nasty little indictments coming down the pike. That would be the Rovian thing to do. But Bush strikes me as a contrarian sort of guy (and Rove has his own hide to worry about these days). Dubya might just be pissed off enough to go the other way...
And now, the reaction:
Malkin has relief (no high fives, just exhausted relief...) all around. A sampling (with proof the Qaida is already instructing the POTUS on how to behave):
Bulldogpundit at ABP: "It's time to move on from the internal squabbles about her nomination. We'll see quickly enough if the President has learned his lessons from this error and nominates a supremely qualified (and properly vetted) conservative jurist in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, as he promised in 2000 and 2004. I trust that he will."
Jonah Goldberg: NO GONZALES. That is my only advice to Bush right now. No Gonzales, a thousand times no Gonzales. David Frum on NPR today: "I'm greatly relieved. I think Harriet Miers has done the right thing, she's put the president and the party first.... Harriet Miers was not the person the president thought she was."
Confirm them has nit-picking, self-congratulation, fake empathy, and more instructions for the pres...
No gloating from Wizbang, just a roundup.
Update: Did Charles Krauthammer write the Bush-Miers exit strategy? Signs point to "who's running this joint, anyway?"
Update 2: Pat Buchanan on MSNBC with Chris Matthews is calling the withdrawal a "Godsend" for the president, a "glorious day for conservatives" and a much-needed second chance to unite the base. (BTW if you haven't read Buchanan's book "Where the Right Went Wrong," read it. It's damned good.
Update 3: Miers deep six quotes, courtesy of the LA Tmes blog:
"The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination." — Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) "Harriet Miers' withdrawal...demonstrates that ultraconservatives are so determined to swing the Supreme Court sharply to the right that they pounded their own president's nominee into submission." — Ralph G. Neas of People for the American Way
The Koskids say the withdrawal makes Dubya look weak.
Hugh Hewitt (the president's loyal stooge... I mean charge... to the end) says:
I think Ms. Miers has been unfairly treated by many who have for years urged fair treatment of judicial nominees. She deserves great thanks for her significant service to the country. She and the president deserved much better from his allies. And he gives this more in-depth condemnation of the slash and burn tactics of his own side. For the record, I think Hewitt is right to veel burned by the tactics that usually only singe my side, but you know, Hugh, hardball is hardball. Let's see if you pooh-pooh the tactics the next time they're used against Democrats. Besides, Miers was unqualified, period. The pointy headed meanies were right...
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Tags: Harriet Miers, Supreme Court, Politics, SCOTUS, Law, News, Bush |
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