Anti-Miers Ad

A group called Americans for Better Justice has purchased a $250 thousand ad buy running a spot urging viewers to urge President Bush to withdraw the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers.

The copy, via the AP:

SCRIPT: Announcer: "Even the best leaders make mistakes. Conservatives support President Bush but not Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers. Judge Robert Bork says, 'I don't think she's qualified" and calls Miers' nomination "a disaster on every level." And Rush Limbaugh says, "I am totally behind the president ... but I disagree with this nomination." America deserves better. Go to betterjustice.com. Urge President Bush to withdraw the nomination of Harriet Miers."

"Even the best leaders make mistakes."

Yeah. So do the really lousy ones, like George W. Bush.

Americans for Better Justice must not be paying attention to what's been happening with the Miers nomination. They might actually blow this thing.

See, Bush is trying to yank Miers without actually yanking her. This is why he has drawn a "red line in the sand" over releasing her White House papers. Not gonna do it. Wouldn't be prudent. This lets Miers, Bush and senate Republicans off the hook for this disaster. The senate will demand to see her papers, arguing that she is such an unknown factor that they can't possibly vote to confirm without knowing more about her. Bush will claim lawyer-client privilege and flat-out refuse to release the papers. There will be some token back-and-forth.

Give us the papers.

Shove it.

Give us those papers!

I said "SHOVE IT!!"

Then, in order to end this stand-off and preserve attorney-client privilege for generations to come, Miers will offer to withdraw her name from contention for the Supreme Court. Bush will accept her offer with regret. Then, he will nominate some anti-abortion, anti-gay rights corporate attorney that he has already appointed to a federal appellate court seat. Even GOP senators will be happy to avoid the dilemma posed by having to oppose Bush or voting to place an unqualified person on the United States Supreme Court.

But, if Americans for Better Justice gets any real traction with this ad, all bets could be off. The beauty of the above scenario is that it allows Bush to pull Miers without appearing to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wingnut Nation. The key is to preserve the illusion that he is his own man. That won't happen if the Miers withdrawal coincides with, or comes immediately on the heels of, an ad from a conservative group demanding just that. He might just dig in his heels and let this thing reach its own conclusion.