OK, some people apparently are under the willful delusion that Harriet Miers might be the next David Souter -- a closet moderate whose nomination by George H.W. Bush has never been forgiven by the far right. The fact that Sen. Harry Reid all but proposed to her yesterday, and the fact that many of the knuckledraggers on AM radio are enraged about this abomi-nomination, apparently reinforces this fantasy. But let's stop fooling ourselves and leave that to the professionals (mainstream media), OK?
Want to know why the right-wing radio neanderthals are
REALLY frothing mad? Why they really are beating their squarish foreheads against the wall? Because what they wanted more than anything was a
FIGHT. They wanted Democrats to filibuster so they could
NUKE it. Just look at
Buchanan's ravings if you don't believe me, he captures their bitter sense of outrage and
BETRAYAL. For them, this wasn't about just getting a nominee that will advance their hate agenda. They wanted the damn liberals to
KNOW they were getting #*$%ed in the @$$. They believed they were entitled to
BLOOD. That's why they're pissed.
Now let's talk about Reid, who looks like the cat that ate the canary. Does he really think Miers might be another Souter? Might Bush and his puppeteers have slipped up in the vetting process? Is that why Reid included her name on a list of acceptable nominees that he gave to the president? NO. Again, let's not deceive ourselves. Reid is making political lemonade out of lemons, and it's not too sour. With no paper trail for Miers, he and other Democrats can legitimately claim they just don't know for sure what kind of justice she will be. Reid, Schumer and others clearly got their act together on this, and they are exacerbating the outrage amongst the trogolodytes with every smile and subtle comment.
They are also -- and this is really the part that's BRILLIANT (to use the term properly, unlike when Miers preposterously applied it to Bush) -- INFLATING THE EXPECTATIONS FOR MIERS among the moderates, the swing voters, the Americans who are not among the 43% of people who still delude themselves into believing Bush is doing a good job. By expressing guarded optimism about Miers, the Democrats are setting her, and the Republicans, up for a fall with the 62% of Americans who do not call themselves "pro-life." They will soon discover that Miers is no Sandra Day O'Connor.
Bush betrays and demoralizes the bloodthirsty Republican base by offering a "stealth nominee." Reid inflates expectations that Miers will be what swing voters want, a moderate. And November 7, 2006, is getting closer every day.