If Miers is an enigma, we only have lily livered Senate "Republicans" to thank for that. Will all the Senatecritters who wanted Bush to nominate a rightwing goon, tell us just when they expect to effect the ballyhooed "nuclear option" to get him or her past the filiblusters?
I think there is some truth to this. I also think that getting another Thomas is just not as important to the President as it is to the base. I think he would like to appoint another Thomas if it wasn't too difficult; but he's balancing a lot more things than we are and he's a politician--part of the art of politics is being able to cut off your arm when you are in a tight spot.
The gang of 7 is partly responsible for the tight spot Bush finds himself in. But it's also that Bush doesn't believe that getting an originalist with a record is important enough to spend any of his dwindling political capital on.
And maybe he's right. Maybe we have to choose between fighting the WOT and having nominees that are originalists with records--we are 0-2 in that regard (notwithstanding Roberts' smarts, the jury is still out on him as a judge on the Supreme Court). Maybe there just isn't enough capital for both.
This doesn't make me any more thrilled about the nomination. But I think I understand why it and the Roberts nomination happened.