Buh-bye

So Harriet's been withdrawn. That's good. Unfortunately, I suspect we're in for a bumpy ride with the next nominee. Here's why:

• Conventional wisdom is that with Bush getting weaker by the day, he needs to kowtow to his base more than he ever has. That means they're more likely to pick some right-wing wacko.
• Republicans in the Senate seemed to have been gearing up to ask the kinds of probing questions of Harriet that lately have either gone unasked or unanswered. By withdrawing Harriet before she could go in front of the Senate, there's no way that we can re-establish the Senate's duty to advise and consent.
• Similarly, the White House has been able to use their lame arguments against sharing documents again, so there's no opportunity to let the Senate regain some muscle in getting information on the nominee.
• There are still indictments coming, and the White House is going to be desperate to change the subject.

Democrats don't have much leverage at this point, so no matter how extreme the next nominee is (and I fully expect a doozy), they're going to have a tough time wringing information out of the nominee and/or White House without Republicans solidly on board with them. If the next nominee is as bad I fear, the only option for them will be a filibuster. If they resort to that, then we get the whole nuclear-option dance again, and god help us all.

Posted by Jason at October 27, 2005 12:44 PM