Was Harriet Miers a "Stalking Horse"?:

[Paranoid Pessimist]

I don't know if anyone even remembers that term; hasn't been in use for a while. It's when a political party runs one candidate for office knowing all the while that once the campaign gets to a certain point, another more electable candidate will be pushed in.

Call me a Paranoid Pessimist, but it seems to me that this was the plan all along. Now they can slip in some smooth antiabortionist like what's his name, the new Chief Justice, and all the nominee controversy energy will have dissipated. All they have to do now is pick someone who isn't a "crony" and, presto, they got a Roe-Wade overturner who'll be confirmed quick as a wink.

[Demeter]

1. Only If You Assume Somebody in DC Had a Plan

Based on what we've seen so far, I'd say no. These people couldn't plan lunch, let alone a stalking horse. And when they do have a plan, like Iraq, it's not only worthless, it backfires.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

25. This could have been a plan that backfired.

[kansasblue]

2. heavy price to pay for such a strategy

[ewagner]

3. Several others have expressed

the same thoughts.....

I think Harriet was a media distraction to keep minds off of the investigations/indictments. Notice the timing.

Fitz is supposed to have a press conference today (or was anyway) and/or indictments were to be announced/leaked today....

sooooooo......

Harriet withdraws today...

tomorrow?

Speculation on speculation on who Bush* will appoint next. Media will watch the comings and goings of possible candidates with breathless interest and the WH will make sure that candidates are visible.

Indictments? What indictments?

[wtmusic]

4. You have earned your title

The biggest Achilles' heel of most conspiracy theories is they assume perpetrators have too much control...

:tinfoilhat:

[Paranoid Pessimist]

24. If it should happen to be true (and I was just asking for . . .

. . . purposes of discussion, not putting forth an assertion -- people didn't seem to notice the question mark), I wouldn't say it would rise to the level of a conspiracy. Seems like Rovian politics as usual to me. But I hope I'm wrong and that the next nominee is even more of an unconfirmable obvious Bush-ass kissing idiot. If that happens I will retire my hat (which, incidentally, is made of aluminum foil).

[Junkdrawer]

5. Yep. UberBork is on the way...

:(

[WA98296]

8. I'm concerned that this could be true, that's been my thought as well.

[incapsulated]

6. Well, I've thought about that possibility

But the combination of the stupidity of Bush and the fury of the wingnuts makes me think this was too clever and dangerous a game for them to have played.

Unfortunately, deliberate or not, it will work to their advantage at the end of the day. The announcement by Fitz will knock Harriet off the front page. And then they will get what they wanted, a real fundamentalist conservative who will be aggressive on the court. The Democrats will be nervous about causing another ruckus over a nominee and I doubt they will filibuster anyone except maybe Brown.

[Rose Siding]

7. Miers is what happens when a Roveless preznit on training wheels

chooses his own nominee.

[KittyWampus]

17. Thank You! Why Some DU'ers Think Every GOP FUCK UP Is Actually

them manipulating things rises to the definition of paranoia.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

21. I hope you're right. Paranoid Pessimists yearn to be proven wrong. n/t

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Yes, but I think Bush wants Gonzales, not pushed into an uber-Bork.

[Tyler Durden]

10. Is the bear a Catholic?

Does the Pope shit in the woods?

Wait a minute....

[Mr_Spock]

11. Oh, gee, another paranoid pessimist to enhance the mood at DU

when we should be celebrating. Sometimes I just FUCKING HATE this place and the tin-foil hat people who show up to spoil every party we've even had. This so sucks. STOP IT!!

[Paranoid Pessimist]

20. Boy, lots of people issuing orders in CAPITAL LETTERS

I'm sorry you sometimes hate this place, but I am the only actual paranoid pessimist here. Others may at times hold views that could be thusly characterized, but me and my tin foil hat thought this was a forum for free exchange of ideas, not a party. My bad.

[Jose Diablo]

12. No, meet Bu$h without his brain

This IS a screw-up, nominating someone his base doesn't like.

She was too, NOWish for these people.

[mtnsnake]

15. I agree. I think this is the 1st decision his string pullers let him make,

and he screwed it up for them. Whether the real president is one of the RW think tanks or Dick Cheney or whomever, I think this may be a choice that Bush got permission to make on his own and he bungled it.

[SheilaT]

13. Another silly theory.

It's too complicated, for one thing. Assumes the boys in charge knew for sure she'd go down in defeat/withdraw her name. Nothing is that certain.

I do believe the next nominee will be even worse, because that's the normal pattern for these people.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

19. I;m certain the next nominee will be worse. A stealth antiabortionist.

It'll be someone smooth who is not a "crony". Of course, they might surprise me and put Gonzales forward like he originally wanted to do.

[kentuck]

14. More like a "Sacrificial Lamb"..

I think.. :shrug:

[KittyWampus]

16. Absolutely NOT. Was Kerik A "Stalking Horse"? No, They Thought The ,

political winds were still behind them.

STOP GIVING THEM THIS MUCH CREDIT.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

18. It was a question. You needn't yell at me with CAPITAL LETTERS

You might consider the possibility that you're underestimating them. They have survived every stupid thing they've done so far. We shall see who replaces Harriet and how that confirmation process goes.

[sendero]

22. No..

.... it was another garden-variety fuckup by a man who does nothing BUT fuck up.

[ginnyinWI]

23. If it was, it was a really stupid plan

This has done more damage politically than anything good that might come of it. The Senate Judicial committee wasn't born yesterday, and could see right through it, anyway.

No, I think we can safely predict what the Bushes are going to have on the table this Thanksgiving: cooked goose.

[LondonReign2]

26. Not a chance

You give these retarded chimps (apologies to all retarded chimps) far too much credit.

Bush wanted the only other person on the planet besides himself that thought he was "the mostly brilliant man I've ever met". He wanted a clone, and a clone that could be counted on to protect him against any lawsuits going up to the SCOTUS.

Harriet Miers = more cronyism and ineptitude, not a master plot

[BeTheChange]

27. Yes, I said it on day 1..

and Ill say it again.. I never feared Miers.. who we need to fear is the real appointment. She was just put out there so that everyone would breathe a sigh of relief when the real one is trotted out. It will make that one look not as bad ...