Can the President Withdraw?
A follow up Post from SC Carpenter
I don't see how the President can withdraw his nominee without looking much weakened, to the detriment of all Republicans and the country. That is probably a cost worth paying to get a known strong conservative on the court instead of a one-issue pro-life conservative that Ms. Miers may in fact be. (Dr. Dobson commends her on that ground.) But it is a high cost that will be reflected in elections, tax increases, and diversity mongering at all levels of government. If the President does not withdraw her, we probably need to support the nomination well enough to see it through. We wouldn't want him to be weakened any more than he already is.
I don't see how the President can withdraw his nominee without looking much weakened, to the detriment of all Republicans and the country. That is probably a cost worth paying to get a known strong conservative on the court instead of a one-issue pro-life conservative that Ms. Miers may in fact be. (Dr. Dobson commends her on that ground.) But it is a high cost that will be reflected in elections, tax increases, and diversity mongering at all levels of government. If the President does not withdraw her, we probably need to support the nomination well enough to see it through. We wouldn't want him to be weakened any more than he already is.
posted by Sloanasaurus | 10/06/2005 09:55:00 AM
I disagree. I think the president can withdraw the nomination without too much harm. Noboday will remember the mistaken nomination once the new one is being questioned in the Senate.
This is a mistake that can be corrected.
As things are going, we have a good chance of losing a good number of seats in the Senate and House, perhaps enough to lose a majority. One reason is that the base is extremely disappointed in our Senators. If they stand up to the President and scuttle this nomination, and the next one is a popular pick (and it wouldn't hurt if it were an evangelical Christian like Michael McConnell) the voters might see that we are actually getting something from our Senators. I say bring her down by whatever ethical means necessary.
Will he look weak? Of course. Does it matter? Not one bit. That said, I doubt seriously if W will withdraw this nomination. He's got a long (and generally admirable) history of loyalty, and I don't expect this to be any exception.
The bottom line is that Bush and his advisors must have known that this reaction would follow his announcement of Ms. Miers. One thing they are not is stupid. I can only conclude that either A) they didn't care about the negative reaction, or B) they're a lot smarter than us and have some other plan that will become obvious over time.
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