Conservatives wouldn't even give Miers a chance

Dallas Morning News | William McKenzie:

"If movement conservatives want to maintain their power, they had better think about that. They own Washington today. They've proved that. Now, they'd better run it right. No more whining."

Whining is a winning strategy. President Ronald Reagan won re-election by running as the outsider, whining about the insiders. So did George W Bush. Conservatives control the White House, Congress and the Courts but still whine as if Washington is in the hands of liberals. Despite the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter and Pat Robertson, conservatives continue to whine about the media being liberal. In part, it's just smart politics. Americans hate Washington, so never admit you are in charge there. Conservatives have invested so much in casting themselves as the outsiders battling the established powers, that they believe it must still be so, even now when they control most levers of power.

Ironically, as the number of liberal opponents dwindles, the conservative tent has room for an ever smaller number of true believers. Conservatives begin to turn on their own, tearing down nominees like Harriet Miers as not being sufficiently conservative. Even President Bush finds himself at risk of being tossed out. The infighting will only grow worse as the realization grows that so much of what's gone wrong in this country over the last decade has happened on their watch.