"I asked the President to withdraw my name from consideration."

[Chichiri]

Those exact words weren't spoken by Harriet Miers, but by a fictional character in Rod Laurie's film "The Contender." The Governor of Virginia, played by William Petersen, was sitting down with the President, played by Jeff Bridges, who was at that time looking for someone to replace the recently-deceased Vice President. The Prez told the Gov that he wasn't going to choose him, because, due to existing circumstances, the nomination would be incredibly rough, and it could be embarassing to the Prez.

The Gov then went out before the cameras and said, "I asked him to withdraw my name from consideration." He took responsibility for it. And he wasn't even asked to -- it was just expected that he would. That's how it works in politics.

And as another poster here said, if Bush wanted Miers to stay on, there's almost no chance that Miers wouldn't stay on. So whatever you'll hear from the GOP spin machine, you can take it to the bank: Bush backed down.

The Chimp is weak.

[Arkana]

1. So all we need to do now is start sticking him with the dreaded "Wimp"

because we all know that that's what Dubya's preznitcy was all about: repairing his father's image as a "wimp"

[Rufus T. Firefly]

2. I knew there was NO WAY they'd allow Dobson to testify.

It would lay their whole cabal in the open. We know what goes on in the background during a supreme court appointment, but they can't afford for someone to lay it all out there.