About Miers becareful what you wish for .

[DanCa]

Is anyone else worried that the President now has no choice but to nominate an ultra conservative? I am just worried to death about his next appointment pick.

[afdip]

1. prepare the filibuster

[CanOfWhoopAss]

5. Right...Next nominee + filibuster war will help further difuse Fitzmas. nt

[Kagemusha]

2. Well it's not Democrats' fault. Specter did the death blow...

and the base softened her up. I know, I know, people were putting out the word that the base actually was upset that the elitist conservatives were betraying the great President Bush, but do we really have to buy that nonsense ourselves?

So wishing didn't really do anything either way, and won't do anything either way governing Bush's next pick.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Boy, it's like you were reading my mind.

The heat he took for not picking an uber right winger is just going to piss him off.

I think we are going to get Borked.

[Gman]

4. That's always good advice

but we liberals didn't drive this. The nutcase RW did.

[DanCa]

8. Oh I agree, I am just really worried about what's coming down the pike now

[Gman]

22. If anything I wanted her confirmed

and wanted John Paul Stevens and Sandra Day O'Conner to pigeon-hole her for a while.

[julialnyc]

6. like my husband said this morning

our best chance is getting mr. torture, how sad is that!

[Cactus44]

7. That cuts two ways though. An ultra-conservative will run into

substantial resistance from Dems and moderate Repubs and the WH just doensn't have the political capital left to push anything through. It's a fight they would very likely lose, and becasue of that one that they'll probably avoid. Just becasue Bushie nominates someone by no means guarantees appointment.

[Leopolds Ghost]

27. This argument is a contradiction in terms.

If Meiers had had the support of the socially conservative base,
she would have sailed thru over Specter's objections.

Don't forget, Roberts was confirmed AFTER Katrina, etc.

Dems in congress would have (and will) focus on Fitzgerald, unsuccessfully, since that requires less effort; and may not even succed in mounting a filibuster. and the Media will spend two weeks writing puff pieces on Owens, Brown, Gonzales (Mr. Torture himself.)

I agree with the person who said Miers should have BEEN confirmed after a grueling fight wherein the conservative base made clear they don't want her and don't respect her opinion. That would have been the best possible outcome for us. Think strategically.

This withdrawal is the best and most logical thing Bush coulda done for himself.

Learn to empathize with your enemy if you wish to defeat him.

Remember the Bush family are country club Republicans. In all likelihood, they wanted to sneak this one thru so they could retain the abortion issue by leaving it in the hands of an incompetent justice who could be relied on to vote conservative on business issues.

That way they don't get blamed for whatever happens and they keep it as an issue.

[More Than A Feeling]

9. and we'll serve him up a healthy helping of filibuster

two in a row shut down, and Bush is reduced to pleading: "Please, sir, may I have some more?"

[Mike03]

10. True, but

This is a Bush failure that can't be blamed on the Democrats--this fiasco is attributable largely to an implosion on the far right. And we didn't have to waste a filibuster on Miers.

[DanCa]

15. Welcome to DU mike03

There is a little light in what you said at least :) :hi:

[Leopolds Ghost]

28. Fiasco? What fiasco?

This is a VICTORY for the Far Right.

You think they aren't CELEBRATING right now? I assure you the balloons are being purchased right now -- literally.

You think the base cares about how this makes Bush look politically? Bush is damaged goods. He's an incumbent who doesn't have to run again. His administration has been deprived of its own, controversial, political influence over all and sundry and the base, with or without Poppy's help, intends to hollow it out like a tool. He is a lame duck.

He has three more years in which to appoint Justices to the court until one passes. They will get more and more conservative until the worst of the lot passes with 100 votes in the senate, just like Scalia (after Bork and that pot smoking guy.) THAT is their MO.

Bush tried to go off and do his own thing -- play "political judo" with Reid. "Political judo" is Reid and Kerry's turf. He got smacked down for it -- by both sides.

Dems only win at "judo" when they fool Bush into playing on their turf.
That's why it's such a dumb maneuver -- it's asymmetrical warfare.

Long as Bush counter's judo with Rovian campaign tactics (like turning Meiers into a chess piece to be sacrificed) he can defeat Democratic "judo" with ease. Rove wasn't around long enough for Bush to make an informed decision, and the /base/ slapped him down for it. Dems just sat back and nibbled at his toes a little, causing /none/ of the real damage.

That makes Bush their B*tch.

The base can now close ranks behind B*sh. He is now THEIR figurehead -- like a former absolute monarch who has gone running into the arms of one of his barons in the face of a popular uprising.

Freed from having to wrest power from Bush themselves, since he is now totally in their hands, the barons can now turn their attention to quelling the uprising, like they were doing VERY successfully post-Katrina and pre-Meiers.

(compare what happened to Roberts post-Katrina and say, the killing of the Gretna story -- even here on DU -- clear wins for the mass media and for Bush.

now "the base" will attempt to take control, throw the neocons overboard, and paper over the Fitzgerald investigation by firing those responsible.

This will allow Bush to go out JUST LIKE Reagan did -- and potentially like Clinton -- with surging popularity ratings out of "sympathy".)

Not good news.

[mtowngman]

11. Always concerned

when repugs get to pick, but I think anyone with some judicial experience would at least be a step in the right direction. Her nomination was a joke from the start.

[walldude]

12. Mier's wasn't ultra conservative?

Funny, didn't she say that Shrub was the most brilliant man she'd ever met? That makes her neo and stupid... hehe

[DanCa]

16. She was a stealth conservative am talking about people like Bill Donahue

for instance.

[LizW]

13. C-Span callers are already pushing Janice Rogers Brown.

:puke:

[unblock]

14. exactly. miers lost because she wasn't demonstrably ultraconservative

so you can only imagine what the next nominee would be.

assuming they haven't had one waiting in the wings all along....

[DanCa]

17. Omigod Johnny Ashcroft (?)

Damn my mind where's my psych meds to slow this down.

[Fleshdancer]

18. I'm not worried

And it seems like everything that happens worries Democrats these days...or maybe that's just a DU thing. I'm starting to wonder if Eeyore is our official mascot.

Bush got caught trying to pass off another unqualified crony. He will most likely over compensate on this next nomination in order to keep the Evangelicals happy but that decision comes at the expense of pissing everyone else off. At this point, everyone is going to expect a nominee with a paper trail and if that nominee is too extreme, then this country should debate it.

The Democrats can still filibuster and the media no longer gives Bush a free pass. With Rove most likely out of the picture soon, Bush is going to make some pretty stupid political decisions and he won't know how to get out of the mess he creates.

[abluelady]

19. Yes

But I'm more worried about the chimp totally melting down and doing god knows what. This is a big blow to him. We need to be prepared on many fronts.

[bklyncowgirl]

20. Good--Let him.

Let him nominate some right wing nut job to pacify the "base".

Let the Republicans vote for him.

Let the Democrats vote against him up to and including using the filibuster.

Let the Democrats hang this right wing nut job justice around the Republicans necks in the next election.

This is of course assuming that the Democrats can actually hang together in the face of a nut job nominee and that moderate Republicans won't jump ship.

Either way the far right will lose.

[Leopolds Ghost]

29. That sure worked in 1987.

Look what we got (Scalia, after two tries and an exhausted Senate), all the officers involved in Iran Contra got fired by Poppy and later pardoned before they could do any real damage to Reagan, and surging popularity ratings for Reagan. Yeah... go with what you know.

[seabeyond]

21. this is what i am thinking. have always felt

at least harriet was wishy washy on religion, morality. she seems easily swayed

[MrBenchley]

23. Exactly...

[Carni]

24. It's totally a given...that was the set up from day one IMO

Remember when bushit picked Kissinger to head the 911 investigative panel?

There was all sorts of public outcry and then he brought in that other weasel who seemed fabulous by comparison (even though he was another cabal insider IMO)

Since day one of Miers nomination I have assumed that this was some kind of bait and switch scheme.

I still think that.

[mondo joe]

25. Yeah - but I'd still rather have a legitimate pick, even one I disagree

with, over this non-person.

[DanCa]

26. Another good point -

I wonder if this means that the days of dennying access to white house documents are over?

[Leopolds Ghost]

30. I'm sure Rove will be happy to hear people think that way

Making this a clear silver lining for his gang.

Now they get to play the Reagan second-term playbook -- totally, utterly, completely.

We just got the pot smoker before the Bork this time out.

The Scalia figure (the one who'll actually be confirmed) is waiting in the wings.

In the process, the Fitzgerald investigation, like Iran Contra, will be papered over and forgotten by elected Dems -- as the principals involved are quietly fired and turned into unpaid consultants.

This allowed Reagan to go out with soaring popularity ratings when the Cold War hadn't even ended.

[mondo joe]

31. I don't give a fuck what Rove thinks. It's the truth.

[Leopolds Ghost]

32. Sure, it was a huge mistake for Bu*h...

But we should be attempting to amplify his missteps, and keep him from escaping punishment for his irresponsible actions like Reagan did (ugh -- I hate to make the comparison because Reagan got off relatively scot-free).

We should attack when it's advantageous, not show our hand -- force Bush to up the ante and now that Miers is gone, I think, concentrate on the Fitzgerald investigation to the exclusion of all else. That puts GOP on defense. If the next nominee has to be Borked, do so quietly.

(Remember, it's a purely parliamentary process.)

[mondo joe]

33. While POLITICALLY we should amplify his errors, I'm just talking

personal preference and my own sense of what is appropriate.

Saying that here doesn't mean I'd suggest rolling over at the political level.