[F.J. Mitchell]

Good leaders don't give a damn who they tick off, they do what they consider to be the right thing and damn the consequences to their popularity.

What Bush is doing is acting entirely within his authority as the duly elected President of these United States.

His pick is offensive to some, not to everyone, but that doesn't matter one iota anyway. She will first have to get past the Judicial Committee and then the entire Senate before being confirmed or not. Stopping the proccess anywhere short of that is anarchy.

[inquest]

Stopping the proccess anywhere short of that is anarchy.

Nonsense. It's just as legal to withdraw the nomination as not to withdraw it.

"Anarchy" is not a synonym for "political inconvenience for Bush", no matter how much his apologists insist that it is.

[cgbg]

His pick is offensive to some, not to everyone, but that doesn't matter one iota anyway. She will first have to get past the Judicial Committee and then the entire Senate before being confirmed or not. Stopping the proccess anywhere short of that is anarchy

I have always wanted to say this to someone:

You need to spend some time inside the beltway!

You can be sure that inside the White House there is much discussion about whether to pull her nomination. They are probably polling until they drop, holding meetings day and night, and weighing the pros and cons of any scenario. Pulling a nominee isn't anarchy--it is just one possible outcome of an anarchic and lengthy deliberative process within the White House. :-)

Bush is a lame duck President, and is power over Senators is less every day.

He didn't expect opposition within his own party, and now he has to decide if this nominee is worth the fight, and whether he can get a better nominee confirmed.

Don't be shocked if Harriet calls a press conference and announces that the confirmation process would be too taxing for her family (you know, her dog and her cat...)

:-)