Harriet Un-Miers Her Nomination

Well, chalk up another one for the people: yesterday, after weeks of withering fire from all corners of the political right, Harriet Miers withdrew herself from consideration for Sandra Day O'Connor's spot on the Supreme Court. And yet even this effort was handled in a ham-fisted way. In her withdrawal letter, she takes great pains to state that it is the process which is flawed, not herself. Consider these two tortured sentences:

Protection of the prerogatives of the Executive Branch and continued pursuit of my confirmation are in tension. I have decided that seeking my confirmation should yield.

Yes, it is those evil Senators and their snooping that has doomed the nomination to failure. Uh huh. Well, I can't really blame them for trying to find a face-saving way out of the mess they'd created. But I think it's transparent, and something short and to-the-point would have served better. I mean, look at the complete text of Nixon's resignation letter: "Dear Mr. Secretary: I hereby resign the Office of President of the United States. Sincerely, Richard Nixon."

The thing that gets me, though, is the equally transparent way the left is using the withdrawal as political ammunition against the "vast, right-wing conspiracy." On the talking-head shows yesterday I saw the likes of Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, and Ted Kennedy all reading from the same script, talking about how Bush caved in to pressure from a radical religious faction. But based on late poll numbers, it appears that this fringe group has taken over most of America's populace. Whatever shall we do?!

PS: Does anyone know who the right-most woman in the above photo is? She's always with Miers in those walking-down-the-hallway shots.

Tags: Miers, SCOTUS, Jamie Brown

UPDATE: The woman in question is Special Assistant to the President Jamie Brown from the Office of Legislative Affairs.