WH strategists on Team Miers ready to commit Hari-Kiri

[npincus]

http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200510201613.asp

Here's a fun read: Miers' visits to lawmakers on the hill are going so badly, they may be stopped, with inside sources dissing the WH and the nomination big time.


Strategists working with the White House in support of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers are becoming increasingly demoralized and pessimistic about the nomination's prospects on Capitol Hill in the wake of Miers's meetings with several Republican and Democratic senators. On a conference call held this morning, they even discussed whether Miers should simply stop visiting with lawmakers, lest any further damage be done — and so that time spent in such get-acquainted sessions will not cut into Miers's intensive preparation for her confirmation hearing.

The strategists discuss issues on a twice-weekly conference call led by Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society who has taken leave to help the White House shepherd the nomination through the Senate. A number of people who have taken part in the calls described the conversations to National Review Online. None wanted to be identified, because they do not want to openly oppose the White House or defy loyalists like Leo who are trying hard to defend Miers. Nevertheless, they paint a grim portrait of morale among those close to the nomination.

"The number of participants is declining," says one knowledgeable source. "With Roberts, these calls occurred five or six or seven times a week. Pretty early on, the calls on Miers were scaled back to twice a week. That says something in and of itself."

"It's been a gradual descent into almost silence," says a second source of the calls. "The meetings with the senators are going terribly. On a scale of one to 100, they are in negative territory. The thought now is that they have to end....Obviously the smart thing to do would be to withdraw the nomination and have a do-over as soon as possible. But the White House is so irrational that who knows? As of this morning, there is a sort of pig-headed resolve to press forward, cancel the meetings with senators if necessary, and bone up for the hearings."

[expatriot]

1. I don't think he should be committed and definitely think they will lose

support on this one, especially from Cub fans... isn't he dead anyway?

[Erika]

2. So Bush can't even make a nomination approved by his own party?

She was too moderate? She was lacking of intellectual heft, she didn't satisfy the rabid anti women neocons enough?

Bush is damaged goods. He doesn't have the strength to just say trust me to his supporters. If they over rule him, it shows how weak he is with them. He is a president who never was and who should have never been.

In the meantime, let's pass the popcorn as the culture of corruption (GOP) eat their own.

[nevergiveup]

3. Harriet is history

[Carla in Ca]

5. Randi Rhodes said something funny today

Something about 'getting every Tom, Dick and Harriet'.
Looks like 2 down, one to go!:-)

[DLnyc]

4. What is this odd feeling of deja vu? A vast enterprise, able to crush all

opposition by virtue of their outrageous spin machine, making billions off a product that doesn't actually exist, starting to wobble a bit, then collapsing in on itself in a matter of weeks, leaving shredded bits of an empty shell and a few scared little boys and girls who used to be some of the most powerful movers and shakers in the world . . .

Finally it has happened

. . .

BUSHCO IS BECOME ENRON!!!!!!

(Damn I wish I had sold BushCo stock short. Damn!!!!)