miers pulls out

it was clear things were bad for bush when it was the conservatives who were most vocally opposed to the harriet miers nomination, even taking out tv ads against her. she was not even close to qualified for the job, and everyone knew it.

this ap story was awaiting me when i logged into my yahoo mail:

Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.

President Bush said he reluctantly accepted her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down. He blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.

"It is clear that senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House — disclosures that would undermine a president's ability to receive candid counsel," Bush said. "Harriet Miers' decision demonstrates her deep respect for this essential aspect of the constitutional separation of powers — and confirms my deep respect and admiration for her."

Miers' surprise withdrawal stunned Washington on a day when the capital was awaiting news on another front — the possible indictment of senior White House aides in the CIA leak case.

that last graf is key: if today really is fitzmas as some suggested it would be, then adding miers' withdrawal on top of it would make bush look that much worse. in that case, today would easily be the worst day ever for the bush administration.

we know that bush is pretty much incapable of admitting his mistakes, so one must wonder: did miers withdraw because she wanted to? or perhaps was her withdrawal "recommended" from on high? (though i don't see why bush or his crew would want her to withdraw today of all days, for reasons stated in the previous paragraph.)

now we wait for the next appointee. the right-wing still wants their scalia junior. with the white house in full crisis mode, i don't think even these guys are stupid enough to actually nominate another scalia. then again, nobody thought they'd nominate someone as outrageously unqualified as miers, either.

update: according to this ap story, a spokesman for fitzgerald said there would be no announcements today; none before friday. so bush won't get the 1-2 punch of withdrawal+fitzmas on the same day. still, it doesn't really affect my point; if the indictments are announced tomorrow then that's still two major blows one after the other.

also, harry reid says that the radical right wing won with the miers withdrawal; reid suggested miers to bush and thought she was qualified. if true, that would make two people in the country who thought she was qualified. others have theorized that reid suggested miers because he knew she would be a flop, but is he really that crafty? ¶