The furor over Harriet Miers leads one to wonder what is going on. There have been many theories
- Bush is nominating a business conservative
- Bush is nominating a cronie
- Bush wanted to avoid a confirmation fight
Conservatives are showing concern and dismay over not getting one of their hardliners. I would like to add another theory
"Conservative Politicians do not want Roe-Wade overturned"
Imagine if Roe-Wade were overtuned.
This has a number of unplesant consequences for conservative politicians
- They lose their most important hot-button issue
- They lose their anti-abortion cash machine
- Many PACs would die and their leaders with them
- Pro-Choice forces would be invigorated
I do not think that other issues like Gay Marriage have the staying power that the anti-abortion fight represents. An unmotivated Christian Conservative base would be a bad thing at election time - particularly with such a weak president.
It will be interesting to see if all of this hand wringing is for show (assuming that Miers is indeed an unknown quantity).