[JCEccles]

What bothers me is how are Miers opponents going to tell the Dem's that he deserves an up or down vote without being laughed out of punditry.

What on earth are you talking about? Miers voluntarily withdrew her own nomination prior to hearings. We never got to the point of an up or down vote.

The up or down vote principle is intact and will be used in the Alito hearings. Unless, of course, he were to voluntarily withdraw his nomination as well. I hope that doesn't happen. Unlike Miers, he seems to be fully competent.

[ekwd]

Was I just imagining that Ann Coulter, David Frum, Charles Krauthammer and a lot of others were conducting a campaign to pressure Bush to withdraw the nomination, including TV advertisements demanding that he withdraw her? Please correct me if I am wrong.