The inevitable charge of hypocrisy

E. J. Dionne, Jr. :

When liberals asked for clarity, they were committing a sin. When conservatives asked for clarity, they were engaged in a virtuous act. Thus are conservatives permitted to alter their principles to suit their own political situation.

He's correct on this. There are a lot of conservative pundits I won't trust ever again, especially at NRO. They treated this issue as if it were a salon party where everybody vied to find more and wittier ways to undermine Miers.

Pick a little, talk a little. Cheep, cheep, cheep. Talk a lot pick a little more.

The real enemy in all of this is the viciously political confirmation process. Republicans had the chance to help do away with the way Bork and Thomas were treated, but instead showed that they prefer this kind of circus.

Peter Brown says it will hurt the Democrats anyway. I wonder what the conserva-pundits would do if Bush chose someone moderate, acceptable to the Dems. They've lost their leverage now:

Presidential allies expect him to try calming a rebellious Republican right by picking an unequivocal judicial conservative. But Democrats are likely to battle any choice designed to appease the president's right flank -- renewing Senate warfare over judicial nominations from earlier this year that had appeared to subside.

He could reach for a consensus choice in hopes of pleasing centrist Republican and Democrat senators, thus avoiding a confirmation fight. But that might open him to conservative attacks that he has abdicated his responsibilities on a crucial matter, deepening the perception of presidential weakness.

If I were he, I'd probably let them complain and let the senators sweat over trying to placate them.