The lesson? One must never abandon principle for expediency. You do and you will lose your base. The nomination of Harriet Miers was as purely an expedient political move as ever was conceived by the mind of Karl (I'm not indicted yet!) Rove. As a conservative Republican, I say, enough already. Those who are supporting the nomination out of political or personal loyalty to Mr. Bush really need to know who's lying in the same bed with them. From today's WSJ, we see that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named-in-Polite-Conservative-Circles, Pat Robertson,is threatening retribution not against moderate Democrats but against GOP conservatives who dare to oppose Ms. Miers.Yes, I know. One should not base one's opinions merely on who is against it. This is a Donks disease. In this instance, however, Robertson being in favor of Miers is just the icing on the cake.
There's all sorts of ugliness going around, and the proof that Miers is not up to the task is becoming evident in the convolutions surrounding her preparation for Senate hearings. On this note, we have a "he said," "no he did not say" contest being played out in the media (see, for exmaple, John Fund's WSJ article today).
As I said, enough. Time for Ms. Miers, who by most accounts is a fine and moral person, to withdraw her own name, thereby sparing the president any further embarrassment. And maybe, just maybe, allowing the president to remember to appoint a legal heavyweight next time.
