BECAUSE HE COULD

Just when the conservative coalition was already fracturing – over Iraq, spending, immigration, Katrina – you’d think that Bush would pick a solid base-favorite for SCOTUS. That was my assumption: something to rev up the troops, divide the country into a classic culture-war left-right battle, etc. But I was wrong. For Bush, it’s all about his own power and his own decisions and his own cronies. I’m reminded of Clinton in his second term. When Bush says that his government does not practise “torture,” he is doing exactly the same as Clinton did when he said he did not have “sexual relations” with Monica Lewinsky. It all depends on what the meaning of “torture” or “sexual relations” is. Ditto with Miers. The only reason I can think of for Bush to rattle his base in this fashion is the same reason Clinton decided to push his luck with a blow-job in the Oval Office: “Because I could.” He picked Miers because he could. If he wasn’t allowed to get his favorite crony, Gonzales, he was going to go one better. This is not to say we shouldn’t give the Miers nomination a thorough and fair look. Unlike many of the Cornerites, I’m not sure yet whether she’d make a decent Justice. But, boy, does this pick remind us of who GWB is: about as arrogant a person as anyone who has ever held his office. Now the base knows how the rest of us have felt for close to five years. He had one accountability moment. He doesn’t expect another.