The American Spectator

Print Email

Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

Time is reporting what we were hearing -- and reporting -- from White House sources last week ... that the White House was shifting the Miers nomination fight away from her personality and focusing on her career.

Problem is, there isn't much the White House wants to discuss there. Word inside 1600 is that looking over court filings Miers was responsible in pulling together prior to her stint in public service -- and which clients and others were willing to release -- there isn't much the White House feels comfortable letting out into the public view. "It's pretty dim stuff," says one White House vetter. "There's some paper, but not a lot. It's frustrating."

There is now talk of sending Miers back up to Capitol Hill for more intensive, private conversations with conservative Republican Senators in hopes that they will at least issue statements indicating a more supportive position for the nominee. But there are others advising against it. "We don't want to give those guys more ammunition," says another White House adviser. "We've seen what happened when we tried to go out of our way to allay their concerns about ideology. It blew up in our faces. Best to just stick to procedure. If a Senator wants a meet, they can request it. We aren't doing anything out of the ordinary."

In fact, the White House may not release much of anything on its own. A great deal of paper is now with the Judiciary Committee, but the White House is leaving it up to the committee to either release or leak it.

topics:
NATO