Need some beverage for your bunker?
Posted on 10/20/2005 1:27:08 PM PDT by Stellar Dendrite
The Miers Support Team: Gloomy and Demoralized Now they’re discussing stopping her visits to the Senate.
Strategists working with the White House in support of the Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers are becoming increasingly demoralized and pessimistic about the nomination's prospects on Capitol Hill in the wake of Miers's meetings with several Republican and Democratic senators. On a conference call held this morning, they even discussed whether Miers should simply stop visiting with lawmakers, lest any further damage be done — and so that time spent in such get-acquainted sessions will not cut into Miers's intensive preparation for her confirmation hearing.
The strategists discuss issues on a twice-weekly conference call led by Leonard Leo, the executive vice president of the Federalist Society who has taken leave to help the White House shepherd the nomination through the Senate. A number of people who have taken part in the calls described the conversations to National Review Online. None wanted to be identified, because they do not want to openly oppose the White House or defy loyalists like Leo who are trying hard to defend Miers. Nevertheless, they paint a grim portrait of morale among those close to the nomination.
"The number of participants is declining," says one knowledgeable source. "With Roberts, these calls occurred five or six or seven times a week. Pretty early on, the calls on Miers were scaled back to twice a week. That says something in and of itself."
"It's been a gradual descent into almost silence," says a second source of the calls. "The meetings with the senators are going terribly. On a scale of one to 100, they are in negative territory. The thought now is that they have to end....Obviously the smart thing to do would be to withdraw the nomination and have a do-over as soon as possible. But the White House is so irrational that who knows? As of this morning, there is a sort of pig-headed resolve to press forward, cancel the meetings with senators if necessary, and bone up for the hearings."
"They are going to be keeping the meetings that they've already scheduled," says a third source. "But they have scheduled murder boards today from 12 to 5. She has to focus on her hearing. And the questionnaire that wasn't filled out, to me that's an indication [the White House] hasn't done the vetting. She has to spend a lot of time discussing stuff that should have been done before. So between those two things — finishing the questionnaire and preparing for the hearing, which is going to be make or break — they prefer to put her time into that."
"In the early days, there were people on the call who tried to give facile defenses of Miers, and they were immediately shot down," says a fourth source. "And by the way, those defenses weren't as insulting as the White House line — no way would they have done the 'sexist, elitist' line."
In summary, says the first source, "People have been looking for ways to support this. There are a lot of us who would like to find a reason to be encouraged. Every time I try to accommodate myself to this nomination, folks at the White House say idiotic things that piss me off, like that spin on Rove's part about her supposed deep involvement in judicial selection for three years, which is just not accurate."
"Demoralization and pessimism?" the source continues. "That's been a constant. We're in the various stages of grief."
Excellent. Boot her, Mr. President.
He's the smartest man she knows. Obviously whatever he does is right.
IIRC, she was on a committee staff or such during the years that she was in the WH, but was not WH Counsel. I take the word that she was involved to some extent the whole time. Doesn't make much difference anyway. Being involved in that process doesn't illuminate her philosophy any more than "GWB has retained her" does.
Yeah, but I like Bryon York.
Heck, this is great. We'll get to see just what the little lady from Texas is made of.
One riot, one ranger kind of stuff. You gotta admit, the antis are a riot. :-)
There is, she bows out.
This is Byron York. Where else has he been "less than believable" on this? Ppl knock unnamed sources. Do you have a source for what YOU are saying?
not with an administration that seems to be big on squashing anyone that dares question what it is doing.
More and more these "unnamed" sources are being proven right.
Now that this has happened, his entire record makes sense.
I agree - we're past the graceful point. Still there are options, and I'd hope somebody is seriously outlining some options.
That's probably the best option, but it wouldn't fool anyone. Knowing GW, he'll just keep repeating the one or two slogans he's memorized. Question about Miers? Please hold...accessing slogan....slogan found...
Harriet Miers will make a fine justice. When she appears in the Senate, everyone will see why I picked her."
It's ironic that, as counsel, her job was to protect the President. Now, whether it's because of her ego or his, she's directly responsible for his suffering the greatest loss of confidence among his base since he was elected in 2000.
as we all know, byron york is about as reliable as dan rather or jayson blair.
/major sarcasm
I didn't say York. I said NRO. I can't recall specifically, but it seems that York had a piece out not long ago that made some really off predictions. Here is mine: Miers will be confirmed by the same # as Roberts, perhaps larger.
If they're getting ready to pull her visits to the senators, they're throwing in the towel. It's pretty much a signal to her that she needs to do the right thing and withdraw her nomination.
Second, I'd really like to see comparable timelines/accounts of the Roberts nomination process.
But we'll see. The "stop Harriet" people remind me a lot of the Moveon guys who were just SURE that Kerry was going to win Oh.
I know you didn't say York. But that's who this is. It's York. If you have reason to believe he's not being honest, i think you should back it up, rather than just posting innuendo. He's not prognosticating here. He's reporting. His abilities as a forecaster have nothing to do with this. As to your prediction, who knows? I think if she does get confirmed, it'll be because she gets more Democrat votes than Roberts got, but I still think there is a strong possibility she is a train wreck that will not make it out of committee. if she does make it out of committee, I think she gets more Dem votes than Roberts.
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