Friday, October 28, 2005

The real Miers fallout

As Hugh Hewitt whinges about how conservatives treated Harriet Miers (he can't help it at this point, he just needs to keep being wrong) in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal notes the real fallout from the failed nomination:

Paradoxically, a judicial fight over philosophy is likely to help him. It will rally his core supporters, something he'll need if there are indictments in the Valerie Plame "leak" investigation. A debate would also educate the country about what is at stake in these Supreme Court nominations.

In choosing Ms. Miers, Mr. Bush tried to avoid such a debate, perhaps because he thought he had enough other fights on his hands. But the avoidance cost him much more than had he lost after a pitched battle on principle. The biggest lesson of the Miers nomination is that Mr. Bush can't avoid the battle for control of the Supreme Court that he promised Americans he would make in two elections.


And the rumor mongers at Red State are at least hearing from their sources (who tend to be better about the generalities than the specifics -- i.e., mood in the White House versus identity of the nominee) that the President will nominate a conservative that the Senate can fight FOR, instead of capitulating to the warnings and whinings of Arlen Specter and Harry Reid.

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