Bringing the Funny

The Many Faces of Harriet - Miers supports, opposes, and is neutral on Roe, all within 24 hours! By Dahlia Lithwick

It's been fun--well, not fun, more like amusing in a sad way--to watch the White House and Ms. Miers dance around the matter of her views on abortion, which have been the subject of so many winks and nods these last days and weeks that several eyes and heads in Washington (and in Colorado, and in Texas) are in need of medical care. But at this point, it looks increasingly as if there is no one in any of those three places who has the "political capital" to shepherd this nominee to the Senate floor and get her confirmed. And so, Dahlia calls out the big guns:

So I am begging now. This is embarrassing. End it. Karl Rove: Either plant the 500 pounds of cocaine you keep for such occasions in Miers' car, or trot out some actress to play her bitter, gay ex-lover. You have the power to end this. So do whatever it is you do. But end the unnecessary pain and suffering now, before someone really gets hurt.

I'm for the second option (bitter, gay ex-lover), as it would throw the gay movement, the anti-gay groups, and all of Washington into a simultaneous tizzy. But either way, Lithwick appears to be correct: Even if Miers, cipher though she may be, is the best we can hope for from Bush, her elevation to the Supreme Court is simply inexcuseable, no matter what the rationale. She's not qualified for the job. It doesn't matter if she supports Roe or opposes it or even if she performs back-alley abortions in her spare time. There are plenty of people, and plenty of women, with the legal chops to do the job. Bush should find one and ask his pal to kindly step aside for the good of the country.