The Judy War

"· The furor among some conservatives over Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court."

In the Weekly Standard, Jeffrey Bell and Bill Kristol punch back:

"Why are conservative Republicans, who control the executive and legislative branches of government for the first time in living memory, so vulnerable to the phenomenon of criminalization? Is it simple payback for the impeachment of Bill Clinton? Or is it a reflection of some deep malady at the heart of American politics? If criminalization is seen to loom ahead for every conservative who begins successfully to act out his or her beliefs in government or politics, is the project of conservative reform sustainable?

"We don't pretend to have all the answers, or a solid answer even to one of these questions. But it's a reasonable bet that the fall of 2005 will be remembered as a time when it became clear that a comprehensive strategy of criminalization had been implemented to inflict defeat on conservatives who seek to govern as conservatives. And it is clear that thinking through a response to this challenge is a task conservatives can no longer postpone."

Slate's John Dickerson imagines a Rove-less universe:

"White House officials will not talk about the case but do not challenge the logical notion that Chief of Staff Andy Card is already thinking through how to fill Rove's shoes. Card can shuffle around his duties into different organizational boxes, but it won't do much good. Rove can't be replaced. His departure would create a 'black hole,' says one official who works with Rove closely. 'He's irreplaceable.' "

This person couldn't go on the record with "he's irreplaceable"? Is he a "former Hill staffer"?

Let's see, who else can we blame? Maybe Andy Card?

"With Karl Rove distracted by the intensifying C.I.A. leak scandal, some of the Bush administration's other challenges in recent months have cast a longer shadow on Andrew H. Card Jr., for years a guiding force as the White House chief of staff," says the NYT .

"His office oversaw the administration response to Hurricane Katrina, coordinating federal assistance that was broadly condemned as too slow. Mr. Card personally managed the selection of Harriet E. Miers for the Supreme Court, a choice that has splintered the Republican Party and left the administration scrambling to rescue her nomination.

"The confluence of crises, all running through Mr. Card's suite just steps from the Oval Office, has some critics asking whether Mr. Card needs to clean house or assert himself more forcefully -- or at least consider a course correction before Mr. Bush is downgraded permanently to lame duck status."

Among the critics: Frum and Kristol.

Salon's Farhad Manjoo deconstructs the Miller case:

"What did Judy Miller do here that was so wrong?

"She protected -- and, indeed, still looks to be protecting -- people she knew were trying to discredit Wilson, even though they were possibly breaking the law, and even though she seems to have had no legal or ethical basis for doing so. . . .

"The record now indicates that for more than a year -- from August 2004, when she was first subpoenaed in the case, until Sept. 29, 2005, when she was released from jail -- she made only minimal efforts to convince Libby to free her from her agreement with him, even though, in the end, he appeared to have been willing to do so all along. In that time, she kept information from her bosses at the Times -- who say they let her lead the paper's handling of the affair -- as well as from the special prosecutor and, most important, from her readers. And she's still keeping information from her readers. . . .

"She appears to have lied to Philip Taubman, the Times Washington bureau chief, when he asked her in the fall of 2003 whether any administration officials had disclosed Plame's identity to her. Miller said no -- even though Libby had discussed Plame's identity with her."

On another subject, the Wall Street Journal's John Fund digs up a story that, if true, will have a major impact on the Miers debate:

"On Oct. 3, the day the Miers nomination was announced, James Dobson and other religious conservatives held a conference call to discuss the Miers nomination. One of the people on the call took extensive notes, which I have obtained, and on which the following account is based. According to the notes, two of Ms. Miers's close friends -- both sitting judges -- said that she would vote to overturn Roe.

"The call was moderated by the Rev. Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association. Participating were 13 members of the executive committee of the Arlington Group, an umbrella alliance of 60 religious conservative groups, including Gary Bauer of American Values, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation and the Rev. Bill Owens, a black minister. Also on the call were Nathan Hecht of the Texas Supreme Court and Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal district court judge.

"Dr. Dobson says he spoke to Mr. Rove on Oct. 2, the day before President Bush announced the nomination. Mr. Rove assured Dr. Dobson that Ms. Miers was an evangelical Christian and a strict constructionist, and said that Justice Hecht, a longtime friend of Ms. Miers who'd helped her join an evangelical church in 1979, could provide background. Later that day, a personal friend of Dr. Dobson's in Texas called him and suggested he speak with Judge Kinkeade, a friend of Ms. Miers's for decades. . . .

"What followed was a free-wheeling discussion about many topics, including same-sex marriage. Justice Hecht said he'd never discussed that issue with Ms. Miers. Then an unidentified voice asked the two men, 'Based on your personal knowledge of her, if she had the opportunity, do you believe she would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade?' 'Absolutely,' said Judge Kinkeade. 'I agree with that,' said Justice Hecht. 'I concur.' "

So much for keeping an open legal mind.