They won't have Harriet to kick around anymore

Well the radical rightwing nuts will be giddy with their "victory" today. Poor old Harriet "I heart my president" Miers has withdrawn her nomination. I suspect this has more to do with the impending indictments, (that may come down in our lifetimes), in the Plame investigation. That's unlikely to stop the echo chamber from crowing about how they "killed" her candidacy but what the hell, let them have their fun.

The bigger question of course is, what next? What evil candidate now lurks in the shadows in the tiny mind of our president? Will he trot out the tired nags, Janice Rogers Brown or Priscilla Owen once again, or will he be forced to submit a "consensus candidate?" And if it's the former, will the Dems be able to locate their balls in time to put up a decent fight?

One suspects all will depend on what happens with the Fitzquisition. If the White House is forced into a game of musical chairs by numerous indictments, and loses his key media manipulators in the process, just how far out on limb can he dare to go before it breaks under the weight of his lonely incompetence?

If no indictments are returned, a possibility for which I remain braced despite the cheery speculation, would Bush offer up Fitzgerald himself for the prize seat? That would make for an interesting confirmation process.