Miers Withdrawal Watch -- Part 4

Okay, I know, it seems like piling on at this point -- but the MWW must go on! Just a quick one tonight, however. I spent so long on my Plamegate round-up that I have little energy left for Miers... for now.

Whatever Miers's qualifications for a seat on the Supreme Court (or, rather, whatever her lack of qualifications even to be considered for a seat on the Supreme Court) and whatever the various and sundry criticisms that have been hurled her way (and Bush's) from across the political spectrum, there hasn't been much doubt of her seemingly successful pre-Washington career down in Texas. After all, she managed a fairly large law firm in Dallas and was president of both the Dallas Bar Association and the Texas State Bar.

Sounds impressive, right? Sure. But was it? Uh, no.

At Slate, the well-credentialed Mark Obbie attests to Miers's fundamental "mediocrity". Apparently, that seemingly successful pre-Washington career wasn't so impressive.

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Elsewhere, conservatives are still speaking up (even as they have so little to say about Plamegate and Fitzmas):

Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters has read a speech Miers delivered to the Executive Women of Dallas in 1993. And he's not impressed:

The first quality that comes across when I read this speech is its mediocrity. I assume Miers wrote it herself, because no one would pay for something written this poorly, just on a mechanical level. It's full of incomplete sentences, poor grammar, conjugation errors, and the like...

Mechanically, this speech reveals a mediocrity in composition that is truly disturbing. What about the content? Unfortunately, that doesn't improve the picture much at all, either...

And so (finally):

I'm off the fence for good now. I oppose the Miers nomination. I have no objection to allowing Miers her day in front of the Judiciary Committee; if the Bush administration wants to subject itself to that kind of political damage, let it. The quality of her prepared speech strongly suggests that the White House will deeply regret that decision, but quite frankly, that will be their problem. The Judiciary Committee should reject her, as should the Senate, once her nomination hits the floor.

But if the White House has any sense left, they'll quickly withdraw her from consideration and spare itself further embarrassment.

But that's the key question: Does the White House have any sense left?

Professor Bainbridge has many more posts on Miers -- here, here, and here, for example (scroll down his main page for the rest).

See also Outside the Beltway and RedState.org (with 22 questions for Hewitt and other right-wing defenders of Miers).

(Oh, at least The Volokh Conspiracy has something on Plamegate. Sort of.)

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Speaking of which, stay tuned for updates on the indictments -- and more of the MWW.