The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

John Fund's latest on Harriet Miers definitely furthers the debate about her qualifications and shines a light on the vetting process, though sources inside the White House dispute that associate White House counsel William Kelley was the one who actually pushed Miers' candidacy.

Instead, they say that it this was WH chief of staff Andy Card's play all along.

More important than the tick-tock of the vetting process for Miers, the Fund article may loose some of the plugs from the dam holding back criticism of Miers from some quarters who have remained comparatively silent.

Word along K Street is that the Federalist Society is growing increasingly unhappy with the state of affairs with the Miers nomination. A White House source disputes this, saying, "Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society were kept in the loop on this nomination process from day one. They understood our vetting process, we talked to them all the time about where our thinking was and when it came time, they never objected to Miers. Leonard was one of the first, if not the first, to step forward and endorse her nomination. How could he and FedSoc not have been part of the process?"

Sources inside the Federalist Society offices say they were in the dark as much as everyone else on the Miers nomination, and that Leo, while working hard for the nomination, was no more plugged in to the process than other outside advisers to the White House. "Leo and the Society should not be dragged through this," says a Federalist Society member. "But we are looking to them to show some leadership here. If the group has doubts about Miers, they should step up and talk about it now."