Was it a rushed nomination? Did Miers herself want more time? Are conservative White House staffers upset and up in arms?
Read this item on the conservative website Red State by Eric in full and you’ll get the full picture from a writer who seems to have inside sources. Here’s just a small taste:
Part of the Miers pick seems to be a confused process and a rush job, which adds credibility to the rumor of a last minute back out. But, the White House conservatives and outside parties all indicate that they were ignored. They were heard but not listened to. Several who talked to RedState insist that warning flags were given to Andrew Card and others, but that those warning were ignored and Card pushed the issue all the way to the President’s desk.
One outside source who has a good ear to the ground tells me that the White House most likely has nothing else to offer in Miers’ favor, but will just recycle previous sound bites. This same source bolsters what a White House staffer tells me, in that the vetting process was so poorly done that much of what is now coming out about Miers was unknown before her nomination.
The remaining questions are whether Republican Senators will force the White House to withdraw the Miers nomination and, if so, will the replacement be less favorable to conservatives.
That continues to be the key question: suppose Miers is withdrawn or withdraws? Then what? Do conservatives get what they want — the kind of nominee who proudly announces conservative principles and backs conservative stances? Does that mean an attempted filibuster? The nuclear option? And in any nuke war, there is fallout. The White House would re-energize its conservatives but what would be the consequences elsewhere to Bush’s next three years and the GOP in general?