MIERS AND THE DEMS

The Drudge latest is fascinating, isn’t it? Miers – as recently as 1990 – was pretty much a skeptic of the conservative movement culture. Her dissing of the Federalist Society is final confirmation of her distance from the conservative legal establishment. Was Bush aware of this? Maybe. Was this really Laura’s appointment? Fund suggests that even Cheney was a doubter. All of which leads to a fascinating question: what’s the smart thing for the Dems to do now? The shrewd advice would be to stay quiet and let the GOP rip itself and the Bush dynasty to shreds. More radical advice would be to rally behind Miers. Why not? It seems highly unlikely she’ll be a Scalia, and even if she is a Scalia vote, her intellectual firepower will scarcely affect the Court. At least the Dems can insist that she be allowed a fair hearing in the Senate. They get to look bi-partisan, dignified; and their fairness will only drive the right further up the wall. The other person I’m fascinated by right now is Rove. He doesn’t seem to be that close to this decision; and his client, George W. Bush, is heading for quack-limp-quack-limp-land. Will he throw his weight behind a Brownback or Allen in opposition to Miers? Or will Bush even get rid of him? My gut tells me that Harriet’s loyalty will be rewarded by Bush. He’ll stick by her as long as she sticks by him. And she could conceivably, if still improbably, get confirmed with more Democratic votes than Republican ones.