Bush's Premature Withdrawal
In one of the least surprising announcements to come of out Washington in recent years, President Bush bowed to the inevitable and pulled the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers. Positioned as a principled withdrawal by a stalwart White House counsel concerned with preserving executive privilege, in reality the Miers collapse was both a total defeat for the President and a potent symbol of his political cowardice.
The Bush nomination of Miers was stillborn. She was cannibalized by movement conservatives, radicals on the right perfectly willing to eat their own. From Viguerie, Krauthammer, Will, and Kristol to Buchanan, Lott, Schlafly and Limbaugh, the pundits, politicians and posers of the Right declared her dead on arrival. Democrats, while no doubt concerned about her dubious qualifications, extreme views and proven partisanship, sat idly by while Miers was savaged by her own party. The ultimate indignity for Miers came from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who delivered the message to the White House that the Miers nomination was in a persistent vegetative state. Faced with certain defeat, the White House began looking for a way out last weekend. Ultimately, the Bush team turned to the fiction suggested by Charles Krauthammer that "irreconciliable differences" over Senate demands for access to her documents as Bush's lawyer. This latest façade of the "Potemkin President" served up the smokescreen of executive privilege, with Miers withdrawal letter claiming that:
"I have steadfastly maintained that the independence of the Executive Branch be preserved and its confidential documents and information not be released to further a confirmation process. I feel compelled to adhere to this position, especially related to my own nomination. Protection of the prerogatives of the Executive Branch and continued pursuit of my confirmation are in tension."
Following his partner's lead in the choreographed routine, Bush pointed the finger at the Senate (and Democrats in particular), "It is clear that Senators would not be satisfied until they gained access to internal documents concerning advice provided during her tenure at the White House - disclosures that would undermine a President's ability to receive candid counsel."
This is, of course, utter nonsense. President Bush's supposed "red line" on executive privilege was no barrier to advancing the nomination of John Roberts. After all, the administration refused to provide the Senate any documents from Roberts' years in the Bush I White House. (In that instance, George W. Bush may have been more concerned about his father's involvement in Iran-Contra and less concerned about executive privilege.) The White House had no qualms about "irreconcilable differences" with the Senate over the Roberts' documents.
Simply put, Bush's premature withdrawal is a complete defeat for the President and a sure sign of his growing weakness. Only days ago, Bush spoke confidently of Miers' prospects, rejecting any notion of withdrawing her nomination:
Q: So are you ruling it out, any withdrawal?
PRESIDENT BUSH: No, she is going to be on the bench, she'll be confirmed - and when she's on the bench people will see a fantastic woman who is honest, open, humble and capable of being a great Supreme Court Judge.
As Jon Stewart of the Daily Show might say, "not so much."
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