Now, even
National Review, the bible of the mainstream conservative movement, is calling on Miers to withdraw:
her nomination is looking weaker rather than stronger. No matter how many times Scott McClellan says that she is “extremely well qualified” it doesn't make it so, especially when she makes basic constitutional flubs on her Senate questionnaire and is leaving senators singularly unimpressed during her Capitol Hill visits.
The Miers nomination has already done harm to the president politically by dividing his base, and promises more damage in the weeks ahead. The acrimony among conservatives is likely only to get worse, since this nomination is so rich in embarrassments. And the Senate GOP will be dragged into a bloody fight with Democrats over the nomination. There's nothing wrong, of course, with fighting with Democrats, but it makes little sense to have a knock-down-drag-out over a nominee who has thin qualifications, an uncertain judicial philosophy, and was picked partly to avoid such a fight.
There is no good reason to keep going down this road other than the sheer stupid force of inertia, i.e. this is the nomination, so we're stuck with it.
