Rove!? Cheney!? You Got Some 'Splainin' to Do!

Karl? Dick?.......Who the bloody hell walked out and left the President in charge? You know the man can't tie his own shoes without expert consultation, but y'all went off and let him name a Supreme Court nominee! On his own! I know y'all couldna been involved, 'cause you ain't that bird-brain-blonde-Aggie-grad-Gators-fan STOOPID!! I know it's not a coincidence that his dad's Presidential Library is at Texas A&M, but I expected better of all'y'all!

Bush has announced Harriet Miers as his next nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.

Never mind that her only experience since 2001 has been as a FOD (Friend of Dubya). Never mind that the highest office she held prior to that was as Chairperson of the Texas Lottery Commission (she's never been a judge). Never mind that her only apparent current qualification (in a "troubled" administration anxious to earn the WaPo's "strange new respect" by encouraging "diversity") is that she used to menstruate.

John "Disappointment" Hindraker at PowerLine, Glenn "Underwhelmed" Reynolds at Instapundit, Prof. Stephen "Harriet Who?" Bainbridge, Eugene "Puzzled" Volokh, and David "Unforced Error" Frum are infinitely better qualified to judge her candidacy on merit than I am. Go to these places to find out the details of why Chimpler's "conservative base" is a bit upset with him right now.

No.....the real issue for me is that Bush had a unique opportunity to tilt the Star Chamber that really rules this country to the right a bit, to alter the real political balance of power in this nation for decades to come, to put real power back in the hands of legislatures and the executive...and he blew it. Instead of a solid Michael Luttig or Janice Rogers Brown type, he named a personal friend with no experience; a literal panty-waist; a Souter-like Gore-supporter. He would have done better in conservatives' eyes if he'd nominated a ham sandwich.

Unfortunately, it seems I was prescient in likening the battle over Supreme Court nominees to the Antietam campaign during the Civil War. It started out well, but an opportunity for a great victory has now been squandered by vacilation and poor generalship, just as it was for the Union at Antietam.

Chefjef and other liberal friends: You should be rejoicing, because this appointment will permanently alienate the President from his "base" and greatly increase the liklihood that the "base" will stay home in the next two elections and, therefore, that Madame Robespierre will become your President in 2008. Bush could only have done more damage if he'd granted the Gitmo Jihadis the Honors of War and ordered US troops out of Iraq. (The way things are going, these may yet happen.)

One of three things will now happen in Congress: 1) the circling Democratic sharks on the Senate Judiciary Committee, like Biden and Schumer, will rip Miers to pieces based on her lack of experience, timid manner, and association with an administration "troubled by corruption," thus crippling her candidacy in the Senate or even preventing her from getting out of comittee, and further damaging Bush's faltering political fortunes, or 2) the Democrats will treat her gently during the hearings and quietly accept another Souter/Bryer/Kennedy/O'Connor who'll help their "living document" "evolve" into an even more left-leaning structure. 3) If they're smart, the Dems will play hostile at the hearings, but not torpedo her nomination and thus get another Souter while playing to the Michael Moore / KosKidz base of their party.

Any way it goes down, this will be a sad episode in American history.

Maybe he was asleep?

Dick and Karl: you and Chimpy got some 'splainin to do.

Monk

Update: Kanh comments,

My first thought when I heard who he nominated was...Bush put her name forward so after congress refuses her, the real nominee will look wonderful to them. Also, I think she did hold the chairmenship of the Texas Bar, a little more than just the lottery commish.

Maybe. Perhaps you are right, but if the Dems hold on Meirs and the Republicans are unwilling or unable to use the 'nuke option,' this will embolden the liberals and make it impossible for Bush to nominate anyone acceptable to conservatives.

All we can hope is that he and Rove, et al, know what they're doing and that this woman will be a surprise. Perhaps she really is a pro-life, Christian-sympathetic "pit bull," as the Administration's lock-step defenders are contending. Bush knows her -- we don't. We can only hope that the White House knows what it's doing, all the Democrats who are ecstatic right now and all the conservative legal observers (with the notable exception of Hugh Hewitt) are wrong. This is far and away the most important domestic issue the President has addressed. Let's hope that Hewitt is right:

My suspicion is that as Democrats review Miers personal story, and especially her obvious and deep personal faith, that "the groups" on the left will realize to their horror that, once again, the president has outflanked them. They may try to marshall their forces and launch an assault on Miers. The trouble with some conservatives declaring the end of the world as we know it is that they are effectively taking themselves out of this battle on the first day.

We sure can't afford for them to be wrong...