It's Over?

Chuck Schumer may not be a genius, but he's wily enough not to make obvious errors. That's why it would seem the Harriet Miers express has been derailed.

Otherwise, why would this member of the minority party publicly announce Miers doesn't have the votes, either in committee or on the floor? He's gotta be pretty confident--if this were merely a political ploy, it could backfire too easily.

So the Bush White House must be in reverse mode. Bush may be stubborn, but he's not stupid (no matter what you heard). With all their other troubles, they now have to figure out whether to get a black eye fighting it out, and probably losing, or getting a black eye by pulling out--as gracefully as possible, of course. The latter is the more likely choice. Bush can fight the Dems all day long, but when a good portion of his own party revolts, it's time to reconsider. (Miers probably wants the job pretty bad, but if President Bush tells her to fall on her sword, that's that. Though it may stop the flow of love letters.)

In the past I've written against her nomination, so I can't say I'm displeased. I admit I'm surprised at how quickly things turned around. It took some (though not a lot--let's don't get carried away) courage for individual conseratives to speak out against their President's choice, but it seems to have paid off.

Bush now has a huge roster of clear conservatives--the kind with paper trails--to choose from. Doesn't even have to be a woman; he can say he tried that. It may be a tough fight, but at least his base will be energized.

The biggest irony is Bush probably chose Miers in the first place because he felt assured it'd be a quick, easy nomination.