Having read a ton of reactions from the left and from the right I have come to one solid conclusion. Everyone was geared up for a fight and everyone is feeling ripped off. It’s like paying fifty bucks to see Mike Tyson fight Evander Holyfield and all you get is an early round ear-biting disqualification.
Yet, I don’t think people should despair of a good fight. I don’t think Harriet Miers chances of being confirmed are very good. Bush inadvertently played into the post-Katrina memes of incompetence, lack of qualifications, and cronyism. He also failed to feed the right-wing beast that has been fighting for this moment for thirty-two years. They are furious, depressed, despondent, confused…
If Miers embarrasses herself (or is exposed as corrupt) in the hearings it could easily become a reinforcing lesson that further cements the Katrina fallout.
And if indictments come down in the Plame case, there will be very few people in the mood to defend the Presidency.
My first take? She might be a terrible judge, she might be a less than terrible judge, but her selection was a short-term political mistake.
