Na Na Na Na

I'm tempted to quote more of "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" because the White Sox have made it omnipresent here in Chicago, but Harriet Miers's withdrawal of her nomination wasn't a victory for progressives. Sure, we all benefit from keeping cronyism and mediocrity off the Court, but this fight belonged fully and completely to the far right wing. They fought it, they won it, so they get to gloat.

It'll be interesting to see what ramifications this will have. Will the Prez cave and give the far right the ideologue it wants? (And what does it want, exactly? If the next nominee falls short of declaring an intention to overturn Roe v. Wade at the first opportunity and loudly come out against other conservative bugaboos such as affirmative action, will the 18th-century conservatives be satisfied?) Giving in to conservatives would seem to guarantee a candidate who is emminently filibusterable, and even the Joe Liebermans of the party would have a hard time breaking ranks, no matter what Republicans argue about not having litmus tests and providing "up or down votes." But this isn't a president who likes to cave (or at least give the appearance of caving). Would he come back with someone like Alberto Gonzales, who he clearly would like to nominate but has already been written off as persona non grata among rigid conservatives? The question really comes down to who is the Prez willing to piss off? Another factor, of course, is all the indictment fever currently embroiling the beltway. Will that weaken the White House and force the administration to secure its base? Or will it goad all the President's men into devising a dramatic diversion?

George W. Bush likes a good fight, and as the White House gets pushed further and further into a corner, I have no doubt that this is just what he's going to provide. My only question comes in wondering who's going to be his target.