Here’s what President Bush said yesterday about where he was in the Supreme Court justice nomination process:
And of course I’m reviewing a different candidate. I’m reviewing their curriculum vitae, as well as their findings. I will sit down with some and talk to them face-to-face, those who I have not known already. You know, we’ve got some people that — perhaps in contention that I’ve already spent time with, that I know; in other words, I’m familiar with some of the people that are being speculated about in the press. And so I don’t need to interview those. But of course I’m going to take a very thorough approach.
What they’re referring to is a Supreme Court vacancy. And this is a really important decision. And I’m going to take my time and I will be thorough and deliberate.
A thorough and deliberate process. A review of curriculum vitae. Face-to-face interviews with candidates [who presumably aren’t sitting in a White House waiting room]. Sounds like the process could take a few weeks–or at least a few days.
But mysteriously, I tune into TV news this morning, and reporters are breathlessly speculating on how the aforementioned nomination could come today! Since they don’t know who the nominee is, there’s not much for them to say about it, other than the flash news that it could be soon! Stay tuned and we might have actual news to report later!
How could this be? Yesterday Bush was talking about thorough interviews of candidates, and today we may have the selection. Either:
(1) Bush was blowing his typical news conference smoke yesterday, or
(2) As Reuters puts it:
Sources said the timing of an announcement had been moved up in part to deflect attention away from a CIA leak controversy that has engulfed Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove.
. . .
“[I]t helps take Rove off the front pages for a week,” [a] strategist said.
I guess we’ll find out whenever the nomination is announced. If it comes within the next day, then Bush was blowing smoke (i.e., lying) yesterday. If it comes later, the White House is simply (and successfully) using the media to get Rove off the front page.
UPDATE: Annoucement tonight. Perhaps Mr. Bush was pouring over those resumes during his meeting with the Australian Prime Minister John Howard.