Some of us felt that way about this pick. Paraphrasing Otter from "Animal House": "We f***** up; we trusted him."
The nomination turned out badly, and GWB has to assume blame for that. Some of the criticism of the nomination was fair and accurate; other criticism was over-the-top and disgusting.
This withdrawal is no victory for anyone (except the 'Rats). The President now has to choose between nominating someone totally unacceptable to the Right, and nominating someone who is filibuster bait. Or, he might try to straddle the fence with a pick like Edith Clement. What a mess.