There is indeed palpable relief at the withdrawal of Harriet Miers from consideration for the Supreme Court. Judging merely by her facial expressions and lack of certitude when answering questions of the Senators (according to reports), Ms. Miers gave a sense of really not wanting to be where she was much of the time.
 
The sorrowful speech given by Sen. Reid on the floor of the Senate today was as disingenuous as it gets. Sen. Reid blames "the radical right wing of the Republican Party" for "driving this woman out."  Please. It's as if Sen. Schumer, Sen. Biden, Sen. Kennedy, Sen. Leahy and Sen. Specter, for that matter, had all resigned from the Senate Judiciary Committee. To think that the very same group that tried to discredit and demolish perhaps the best nominee any President has ever sent to the Hill for confirmation is a joke is without its share of responsibility is a joke. 

Their protestations ring quite hollow indeed and reveal once again that the only currency worth anything within the Democratic Party is the coin of victimization — Harriet Miers is now a victim of the evil conservatives. Maybe one day she will achieve Anita Hill—like status. When push came to shove, a competent hearing from Miers would have gone along party lines and Sen. Reid knows it.
 
Indeed, folks like David Frum believe they were the catalysts for change, that they — in Mr. Frum's messianic rhetoric — "saved the country" from Miers and have won a victory. Perhaps. But much of the commentary was low, and the discussion and speculation about what sort of justice she would have made was silly, without giving her a chance to speak and answer questions. How anyone can judge another on speculation and not their words is beyond mortals such as I.
 
Now is the time to take the wood to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The President must nominate a conservative jurist who has a proven track record of judicial restraint and adherance to the Constitution. Nobody — not even the omnisicient Mr. Frum — could have predicted how Ms. Miers would have ruled. But that's done now, and it is time to figuratively slap the faces of folks like the vile Sen. Durbin, who has been on television calling for a "mainstream" nominee.
 
No way, buddy. You're going to get a conservative who makes your stomach turn and you can shout from the rooftops of the Capitol or Club Gitmo, but you're going to have to stand by as that man or woman is confirmed, and the Supreme Court begins to turn. Talk of "bringing the country together" as Sen. Kennedy has said on the floor, is also disingenuous. No such speech was given by the Hero of Chappaquidick when Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated and confirmed without incident. The President has won two elections and, thus, the right to choose who succeeds Sandra Day O'Connor. The wishes and dreams of Democrats are irrelvant.
 
Matt May   10 27 05