Part I: Rove’s Smoke and Mirrors
It has been a good week, in fact month for Democracts with BushCo on the run, Harriet Miers withdrawing her nomination, and the BushCo machine falling apart as Rove and Libby start to get nervous about impending indictments. However, the master of illusion is working his dastardly deeds. And I am not talking about David Cooperfield.
Truth be told, the Miers withdrawal is part of an elaborate Rovian play.
It is strange for Miers, who happens to be a very close friend with Dudya, to suddenly withdraw her nomination before the hearings. Hmmm… something is not right here.
Oh something stinks alright, but it isn’t in Demark! This morning, October, 28, 2005, on Democracy Now, John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation Magazine, told Amy Goodman:
The timing of the withdrawal is incredibly significant and… what undermined Harriet Miers was the attack from the right. The withdrawal was a complete political act. It was done not by Harriet Miers. She did not reluctantly withdraw. The President did not reluctantly accept the withdrawal.
[emphasis mine]
This sure is a Rovian trademark. It is known among Texas Democrats that when times get tough, Rove reaches into his bag of dirty tricks and congers up some smoke and mirrors to distract people. Nichols also said that the BushCo “Smoke and Mirrors” machine started planning early this week. Since the today White House indictments are to be announced, the Rove and his goon squad quickly began laying the ground work well before it occurred. The master plan was to do it day before, October 27, the indictments would come down in the Patrick Fitzgerald investigation of Libby and Rove.
Once the nomination has been withdrawn constant attention – most likely a day or a day and half – would be focused on “Why did Meirs withdrawal?” This in fact, did and is occurring now. With the all the focus on Miers, there is less attention on the speculation about who is going to be indicted and how Dudya and Cheney are involved. Once the indictments come, people will forget all about Harriet Miers.
A Senate staffer for a member on the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed this ploy to Political Wire yesterday. The staffer said:
“This withdrawal and renomination is the ace in the whole for Republicans to combat the CIA leak scandal. President Bush met with Republican leaders last week to test the waters for withdrawal, and then laid the groundwork with the ‘red line‘ for disclosing documents. The President is going back to his base, and next week (likely the beginning), most Senators on the Judiciary Committee, including Schumer, Graham, Specter, Kennedy, Durbin, and Brownback, expect him to nominate a proven conservative justice… Democrats are scrambling to come up with a strategy to keep the focus on the indictments, while also stopping a far-right nominee. Word is that Karl Rove is in fact behind this well-timed stunt to overcome the indictment story.”
The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) and Hotline also reports that the White House can send up the next nominee as soon as this afternoon and mid-next week at the latest. A list of the leading candidates can be found here.
Whether this will play out is still anyone’s guess. Due to the make up of the Supreme Court, fights are rare, since they only occur when a new Supreme Court Justice is nominated, but indictments of senior advisors are even rarer. Rove’s ploy make not work.
(crossposted at ePluribus Media)
