Rush, this morning, has been touting this Miers thing as a great victory for the party that will unite conservatives.

Personally, I was really hoping Miers would have had her hearings and the question of competence and cronyism would have been center of the national debate….but looks like we get to talk about abortion a whole lot more.

Or, rather, talk about not talking about it.

I think Gonzales gets the shaft again. Not that he isn’t more qualified than Miers, which he absolutely is, but because Bush’s explanation for Miers’ withdrawal dovetails with Gonzales.

But Gonzales, like John Roberts, has already faced a Senate confirmation hearing. Not only can the White House can easily pull off the “you’ve already been given documents” trick, but the Senate won’t be able to act like they don’t know who Alberto is.

The conventional wisdom is already starting to agree that Bush’s next nominee will be somebody in the Scali/Thomas mold, but I still don’t buy it. This is a President who values loyalty over everything else. Considering that his base wasn’t willing to trust him on Miers, I’d think that Bush feels like he’s been stabbed in the back by the religious right. I don’t think he’ll be doing them any favors next time around.

“We can’t release documents about communication between the president and counsel because it opens a precedent and it will make Bush look like a bigger moron.”

Unless Congress suddenly gets disinterested in knowing about, say, torture memos, I’d say he’s ruled out by contact.