The Miers Mess - Ending Soon?
The Tradesports odds on Miers’ confirmation dropped like a rock over night, from over 60 to 20 (now rebounding to 35-40):
Captain’s Quarters: The Final Act Of Miers Nomination Begins
Captain Ed reports on a not-so-subtle signal that Senators Brownback and Graham sent the White House, starting with this item from Hill News:
Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) are calling for the White House to turn over internal documents related to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’s service as White House counsel, breaking with Republican colleagues who say the boundaries of executive privilege must not be pushed. …
Graham’s and Brownback’s push for greater disclosure will give Democrats political leverage should they ask for memos and other documents shedding light on Miers’s work within the Bush administration’s inner circle. It would take only two Republicans to defeat Miers in committee, although that would not prevent the nomination’s automatic discharge to a floor vote.
Captain Ed reads the tea leaves (accurately, I think):
Whether or not the White House recognizes it as such, the pair used this demand to send a shot across the bow of the administration. The White House has long defended the right of the executive to retain attorney-client privilege when nominating a counsel to another post, even to the federal bench, a position well worth defending. Both Senators understand this and have long backed that position. They would not issue demands that abandon this important precedent lightly — well, perhaps Graham would, but not Brownback.
They want to tell the White House that Bush has sent an insufficient candidate to the bench, and that the only possible way the Judiciary Committee could justify a vote to confirm her is to find significant work that just doesn’t appear in her public record. That message can be boiled down further: under the current circumstances, they are not prepared to support her, and in fact do not see themselves moving off that position.
Read the rest of Ed’s article.
Charles Krauthammer concurs that thsi request may offer a face-saving solution for the White House.
Perhaps this thing will end mercifully soon.
Keeping Her Story Straight
A show of hands, please
I am done with Bush
Bainbridge: Why the Miers Fight is Worth Fighting
Bush: Miers’ Religion is Cool!