The Miers Watch - A Wake Without A Corpse (So Far)

Yesterday I happened to be watching CNN when a producer from that network asked Harriet Miers if she would withdraw her name, given the mounting opposition to her nomination. Ms. Miers was visibly stunned. To my knowledge, this was the first time that she had been publicly asked about the pink elephant in the room.

Miers managed not to stumble as she continued to walk down the corridor but commented, "How is your day? I'm having a great day." The irony of her response was overwhelming and palpable.

Having blogged on this nomination extensively elsewhere, it is my contention that this nomination is dead. The only question is will she insist on withdrawing, saving the administration further embarrassment, or will she honor her benefactor's confidence in her by enduring the slaughterhouse of the confirmation hearings?

The lines of questioning that have been established in the public debate prior to the hearings on this nominee would be withering to any nominee:

1. Lack of any obvious qualifications
2. Charges of cronyism
3. A public record most notably consisting of gushing, flowery handwritten notes to the president
4. Questionable actions in firing an employee who was guilty only of trying to expose corruption
5. Accepting an inappropriately large payment for land by the government; monies ruled excessive (ca. $26,000) by a mediator has never been repaid
6. Accepting unprecedented and unexplained fees in 1998 from Bush's gubernatorial reelection campaign
7. Vague, incomplete, and even inept answers to Senators' written questions
8. Miscues in meetings with Senators, most notably resulting in 2 versions of comments about support for case law regarding the right to privacy
9. Assertions of attorney-client privilege when none exist
10. Insertion Miers's religion into the debate, done by President Bush himself
11. A lack of hardly any natural support for this nominee, due to a revolt of the right wing of the Republican Party
12. Indications of unsavory assertions and assurances by the nominee's friends given to religious and right-wing leaders in meetings arranged by the White House

Did I leave anything out? Maybe, but that list is damning all by itself. I believe it was Bill Schneider who said last week, "There are 55 Republican senators in the Senate, and there are 55 Republicans in the Senate who do not want these hearings."

Apparently Miers's murder boards have done nothing to allay the fears her handlers have regarding what will happen in these hearings. Some reportedly describe their moods as being in the "stages of grief," referring to Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's Stages of Death and Dying.

So will she march into the hearings only to be slaughtered, or will Bush overcome his insularity and his overwhelming sense of loyalty to Miers and order and end to this death march? Time will tell...