Miers Madness: Pay No Attention to the Hippopotomus in the room!

"Nothing to see here. Move on! Move on!" So says the President again, as this story by Reuters testifies.

Not that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA) is old reliable for the President, especially on pro-life issues. Oh, he says he'll get the President's nominees through Committee--as long as they're not beyond the pale.

Still, Mr. Specter is far from the only disgruntled Republican. In fact, every time anyone from the administration says anything about Ms. Miers, I cringe. About the only thing the White House has accomplished has been to fire up media cycle after media cycle. Not to mention the blood on the street bloggers have spilled!

This is just more of the same:

President George W. Bush defended Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers on Thursday against a complaint by the Republican in charge of her upcoming Senate hearing that her confirmation campaign has been chaotic.

A day after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter charged that the bid had been marred by "insufficient" responses by the nominee and back-room lobbying of interest groups, Bush suggested some of the uproar was because Miers had never been a judge and lacks a clear-cut paper trail.

"Generally, people are used to looking at different court opinions and how one ruled on this case, or how one ruled on that case. That's not the case with Harriet," Bush told a joint news conference with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Bush's nomination of Miers, his White House counsel, has been criticized by many conservatives who fear she lacks the clout and commitment to firmly move the Supreme Court to the right on issues such as abortion.

Others, including Democrats, have questioned her legal beliefs and credentials, and blasted the White House for having trumpeted her evangelical Christian faith.

"There's been more controversy before this nominee has uttered a formal word than I have ever heard," Specter told reporters on Wednesday.

Does the President truly believe that alientating his base and his haters will win him accolades from the independents and swingers in moderate-land? Well, this independent ain't impressed. If he's counting on voices such as mine, he'd better just pack his party's bags come 2006. Maybe he ought to get started right now.