Miers Psyops

Armondo at dKos has a useful insight:

I think that there is, in some quarters, a fundamental misunderstanding of the Right Wing response to President Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers. It is not that they know that Miers is not one of them -- it is that they do not know if she is or is not.

I don't know if this was Harry Reid's play all along when he gave Shrub the thumbs up on Miers. But the uncertainty in Wingnuttia presents us with a terrific opportunity. Because the more we (appear to) embrace her, the more convinced the now-frightened social conservatives will become that Bush sold them out.

I am appalled, of course, at the cronyism. But compar here to the choices we could have gotten -- Janice Rodgers Brown, Priscilla Owen, etc. -- and she doesn't seem so awful. No way I would filibuster Miers based on what we know so far. And once you take the filibuster off the table, the obvious tactic is to embrace her.

Think about the upside. At a minimum, it puts a sledgehamer to the wedge between the crony conservatives and their religous enablers. Helping to sour that relationship could pay huge dividends in 2006 and beyond.

And if we are really effective, as Billmon noted, we could be treated to the epochal pleasure of seeing the Republicans filibustering their own nominee. Nothing else I can imagine (short of a blockbuster from Patrick Fitzgerald) would do more to hasten the end of this reign of error.