THE NEW WHITE HOUSE PLAN

THE WHITE HOUSE OPENED ITSELF to criticism from conservatives on the nomination of Harriet Miers to Supreme Court. [story] While Bush might have though conservatives would be irked, it's more than irritation on the right.  It's ire, as in irrate.  Note to W: Fire whoever told you to mouth that Mier's was the best person you could find for the job.  Excellent job in the uniting not dividing department.  The right and the left both know what Harriet Miers is good for: nothing.  Or less. Or covering your a$$.

BUSH NOW MUST KNOCK DOWN WALLS in the White House quickly.  He will take some hard knocks on his political head in the process.  Whether that will knock any sense in there remains to be seen.

HERETIK POSTS ON HARRIET MIERS [Holy Harriet Miers] [Mier's Brief Disaster] [The Bowtie Speaks] [Miers's Brief Disaster] [The Circle Starring  Harriet Miers] [Brilliance] [Bush Gone Wild]

RECOMMENDED RELATED READING
PAGING MISTER DUMPTY [Joe Gandelman/The Moderate Voice] President George Bush's nomination of his lawyer Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court is now turning out to require a sales job that may not necessarily require an emergency visit by super salesman Zig Zigler — but all the King's horses and all the King's men may not be able to put George Bush's agenda and trust from some factions of his party together again.

THE HERETIK SAYS Bush has always had a bit of the car salesman in his pitch.  What's it gonna take for you to walk off with this nomination now?  The problem is Rove and others have lost their political pitch.

NOT BUYING IT [Maha] He's pitching as hard as he can, but so far he's not closing the deal.

EVEN KNOW ALL NOONAN ISN'T BUYING IT [WSJ] That having been said, the Miers pick was another administration misstep. The president misread the field, the players, their mood and attitude. He called the play, they looked up from the huddle and balked. And debated. And dissed. Momentum was lost. The quarterback looked foolish.

THE HERETIK NOTES Noonan opens that piece with "if the nom isn't withdrawn."  That woman is so toast in Washington.  And Miers is too.

A PREDICTION [Eriposte/ The Left Coaster] It's true that there's not a whole lot known about Harriet Miers just yet, but a review of what is known (and a glimpse at this WP story) tells me that one of the following two scenarios is likely to pan out sometime in the next few weeks before Miers' nomination hearings.

(a) Miers will withdraw herself from contention citing some yet-to-be-determined reason (say, a deep interest in staying focused as Bush's "work-wife" or a newfound interest in exploring Mars)

(b) Some Kerikesque fake problem will emerge from Miers' past, leading her to withdraw herself from contention, thereby becoming a strong contender for the next Presidential Medal of Freedom.

THE HERETIK AGREES and made this same prediction um two days ago.

THE CHIEF QUALIFICATION?  [Just One Minute] Senator Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, speaks in support of Harriet Miers, but... is this what you want to say about a person widely known as the President's personal attorney?

"She is somebody who has gone out late at night to get someone out of jail."

I don't want to know any more.

THE HERETIK DOESN'T WANT to know anymore. And we will probably know less about Miers than we did about Roberts. But Roberts in the end got his job.  Miers requires more of a PR job.

SOMEBODY CALL FEMA [Kevin/Preemptive Karma] Michael Reynolds at The Mighty Middle argues, with a heavy dose of wry humor and an unerring feel for the bottom line, that both ideological sides are playing a grand game of charades when in fact the real issue is a-b-o-r-t-i-o-n. But, given how the bulk of the conservative opposition to Ms. Miers comes from social conservatives I wonder if Abel might not be closer to the truth when he suggests that there's been a paradigm shift and that now it's about gay rights.

Of course there is always my hypothesis that Bush just isn't giving obvious enough eye winks when he tells conservatives to "trust me" about Ms. Miers.

THE HERETIK NOTES the level of trust Bush now holds.  None.  See: I'm a uniter, not a divider.

ASK ME, PROFESSOR, ASK ME [Professor Bainbridge] Will Bush get it? Or will his trademark stubbornness kick in?

PROFESSOR, THE HERETIK SAYS no.  And yes.  Bush will not get it and yes, his stubborness with kick in, then it will kick him in the head.

UPSIDES: MILBANK ALMOST FUNNY [WaPo] Bush has also delighted late-night comics with the nomination. David Letterman came up with a "Top Ten Signs Your Supreme Court Pick Isn't Qualified" (8. "Her legal mentor: Oliver Wendell Redenbacher"). Liberal bloggers have dug up then-Sen. Roman Hruska's 1970 defense of doomed Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell: "[T]here are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. Aren't they entitled to a little representation and a little chance?"

A SISTERLY SURPRISE [Shakespeare's Sister] LeMew lays it out.
I’m in total agreement. The point is that our choices are between a blank slate and a known quantity that we find repellent. Let her be confirmed. Then use it against Bush.

 

MORE TO FOLLOW

Comments

[eriposte]

Appreciate the mention of my post at The Left Coaster...just FYI, I am the author and not Steve Soto.

Regards...

[carla]

Thanks for the nod to PK. Kev did a great job on that piece. :)

[Tom Maguire]

Two thumbs up - I laughed!

Siskel (or Ebert)