One of the notable aspects of the Miers nomination is how much trouble the White House is having finding a clean selling point for Miers that they can use to push her case. Looking back over the last few weeks, “trust us” didn’t work; religion didn’t work; experience didn’t work; personal interviews with Senators didn’t work; Texas judges coming to the White House didn’t work; and letting Miers make her case through her questionnaire didn’t seem to work, either. There are a few cards left to be played, but the number is dwindling quickly. [UPDATE: Looks like “judicial temperament” is up next.]
The key question now is whether the White House can push through the Miers nomination despite these problems, or whether the problems accumulate and reach some kind of tipping point when Republican Senators begin to flip and come out against the Miers nomination. I don’t have any special insight into which will happen, but news that Senators Brownback and Graham are calling for the White House to disclose its internal records on Miers’ work as White House Counsel seems to me to lend some credence to the tipping point theory.
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