The withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination to the Supreme Court presents a comeback opportunity for President Bush. With so many things going wrong at once — from declining poll numbers, to declining support for the Iraq war, to various scenarios involving indictments of his top officials, the president can begin to win back public confidence with several steps, beginning with Miers' replacement.

His next Supreme Court selection should address all of the concerns that led to the demise of Miers' nomination. I doubt if many believe the White House cover story that she had to withdraw over concerns that senators wanted documents that may have violated executive privilege and that, as a result, she would have reached an impasse with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

President Bush must now do what he should have done before getting sidetracked with the unexplainable and indefensible Miers nomination. He must name a solid conservative with a known track record of fighting for an "original understanding" of the Constitution, one who has strong convictions. He should then pledge to fight for her, or him, and give his conservative base the ideological and constitutional battle they've been requesting.

# posted by Squach : 10:43 PM   |