Why Miers Is Toast

Once Fitzmas comes, I think that will be that for Harriet Miers. Bush will have to withdraw the nomination. These two paragraphs from The New York Daily News lay out the reason:

Behind the scenes, however, Team Bush was finalizing its campaign to discredit and undermine special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's conclusions, sources told the Daily News.

The White House strategy is counting on major help from GOP allies and neocon commentators who turned on Bush for naming Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court and are now looking for redemption with a miffed President.

If the White House thinks neocon commentators are going to go along with them for free, I think they are sorely mistaken. White House indictments give these commentators the leverage they need to sink the Miers nomination. A lot of loyalties are going to be strained over this, but I expect Bush's loyalty to himself will trump any loyalty to Miers.

Miers will probably withdraw herself taking the bullet for Bush.