Miers: The Back Story
More reporting from today's Hotline:
One Bush aide acknowledged that Miers vetting had been rushed and left out much of what's been discovered by the press since the announcement. Senior admin. officials were slow to more widely distribute what information it did have, leaving officials tasked with selling her nomination in the dark. Other WH officials and even some of her supporters did not evince confidence when publicly discussing her qualifications. But Miers was upbeat and had privately indicated to White House officials that she was willing to stick to her guns through the hearings. One White House official working on her confirmation: "Did she have the votes in the Senate today? Yes. Would she have the votes after a hearing where it didn't matter how well prepared she was -- her inability to talk about, answer questions, that we knew would be asked (led the White House) question whether it would stay that way." [MARC AMBINDER]
Conservative allies suggest that Bush allowed himself to get boxed into picking a woman. His first choices were not available. And he became convinced that the best alternative to ensure that his worldview was represented on the court was to pick Miers. One adviser says that Bush and WH CoS Andrew Card miscalculated. Another adviser who worked with the WH: "If she knew she could have done well in the hearings I imagine she would've stuck it out." Another close Bush adviser: "Publicly, they are going to say it is over protecting executive privilege. Privately, you have an accomplished woman who probably isn't going to do well in the hearing, so why put her through that?" Another GOPer close to the WH: "It became clear that the only way for her to show [her fitness] would be to reveal things that were privileged." Some GOPers wondered why Bush never anticipated that naming its counsel would require the WH to draw a red line on internal documents. A White House aide: "I don't think anyone anticipated the increased pressure on the need for documents based on her lack of record on constitutional issues."
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