This is one that I disagree with Jason. I believe that it might have been the best thing that could have happened to the party. The White House had got it in its head that it was elected by the Far Christian right and was trying to cater to them with a nominee that would satisfy them-regardless of the qualifications. Hell, I'm not a lawyer. Miers could have been well qualified but the idea that Senator Read came out for her was enough to scare me off.

Bush by passed some highly qualified judges with a record of believing in the constitution to nominate Miers. It was the last straw for me altough his refusal to veto the pork laden farm and transportation bills had me on the edge.

I think now the White house will be not only getting rid of some advisors it will be listening to some supporters besides the Christian right. Bush could not have been elected without the support of the fiscal conservatives and small (l) libetarians and he has found out just how loud we are. Either the party changes directions or we are gone and now they know that. Maybe, just maybe this will bring back some party unity with the neolibertarians in control..if not you will be welcomiong Presofent Clinton to the White House. No, I will not vote for her, but neither will I vote for another RINO

Well, I'm not exactly sure what you're disagreeing with me on? I don't see this as a bad thing for the party, at least not my party. I do see it as a bad thing for the Democrats, who now will face another nominee like Roberts who won't answer many questions and won't engage the philosophic battle all the Miers detractors say they wanted. So they'll have to look back and read the tea leaves of pro-bono cases and who worked for who on what case. Maybe there will be some law articles or bench time (although I hope for another non-judge nominee) to work with, but the fight won't be in the hearings, it'll be in the media. We'll never know who they really are until they begin to write opinions.

The Dems will be faced with a hard right nominee that they'll try to mount a filibuster on, and as I said, they'll lose, and lose hard. If anything, this whole episode will help the Republican party, not hurt it.

The beauty of Miers as Bush's pick was that it WAS going to be a scenario where questions could be asked about philosophy and answers could be given. But we won't have that now, will we. The fight will be in the media, in sound bites, in which Senator asks which question, not in the answers given. We've done nothing but given the Dems the floor to make longwinded speeches and no real responses given, because our next uber-lawyer nominee will simply invoke the Ginsberg rule.

As for the hard Christian right, I'm not very sure that Miers was as hard religious right as people made her out to be. Sure Bush played her that way, in order to keep the Dobson's and his ilk out of play, but if you looked at Miers, she was more of a Reaganite, and not enough of a Harvard uber-lawyer for the punditry.

The President had a right to put HIS mark on the court, his own party denied that to him. This was his brass ring of legacy, a personal pick, for personal reasons, considering everything he's given the party, I think we should have let him have it.

Now we'll get another uber-lawyer who may turn out to be a Souter, and we've also told a whole generation of lawyers that they aren't good enough for the court unless they play the game of the court and go to the "right" school. Personally, I want a commoner on the court, most of the justices we laypeople know by name are the non-judges who could write their opinions in language we can understand. Even if we didn't agree with it.

If anything, Bush alienated many of the elitists in the party, and if they choose to take their flags and move them away from the party? That's their choice, but the laypeople, the average John and Jane that cast their vote for Bush would have appreciated Miers, or at least appreciated the hearings and the opportunity for someone to speak to us in our language while the Kennedy's, Schumer's and Biden's postured for the cameras and be forced to admit how out of touch they were with the common man. Even if she'd lost the nomination, we would have had the up or down vote we always said we wanted and we've have taken Schumer, Kennedy and Biden down a notch or two during the hearings.

But it's all water under the bridge now. We'll get an uber-lawyer and someone who's gone their entire life hiding their true opinions for the day they might actually have to defend them. We'll get another lilly white bland legal eagle instead of someone who had to actually face things like sexism, the ups and downs of running their own business and someone who had to deal with the trials and tribulations of real life rather than just making academic arguments and never partaking in the REAL WORLD.

All that said, I'm still happy, although I'm sad that Bush's long travelled road didn't get him a pick of his own, the brass ring will have to be found someplace else for him. I'll say it again, I don't think this hurts the party at all, at least not mine. The Dems had their chance to come out and meet a "uniting" nominee halfway, and although they started, they quit and now we know that that was always just bluster.

You may be scared that Harry Reid came out for her in the beginning, but what I'm more scared of is that many on the right wound up agreeing with the Democratic Underground and Kos Kids on this one.

--Jason

Jason,

Once again I agree with your conclusion, and I give even more credit to the Party. This plays out well all the way around for the Right. A Roberts will be nominated and almost certainly confirmed.

In the early hours of the Meirs nomination, I wondered (silently) if the appointment were merely a cog in a larger mechanism. It seemed Bush had nominated an unconfirmable candidate; there was no room for the "advise and consent" role of the Senate with Meirs. Even Bush's public support of Meirs was vague and circumspect. It didn't, and doesn't, add up. I think it's possible that Meirs was the straw man all along; i.e., perhaps she was not intended to be confirmed. While the media and partisans did their magic, perhaps Bush has bided his time with the real candidate of his choosing. Bush can now offer that candidate with a near-certain confirmation. It's a possibility.

In any event, I agree that the outcome will fare well for the Right.