Granted, bar association columns generally don’t showcase prose in its highest art form, but Ms. Miers’ contributions in that forum weren’t much deeper than what she now has at “her” blog.

In noting that Australia is replacing the United States as the destination of choice for international students, Richard Bradley notes:

It’s clearly no coincidence that this student exodus has occurred during the unilateralist presidency of George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. The rest of the world doesn’t like us very much now, and that’s just another example of how a war that was supposed to make us safer has actually weakened our international position.

America’s international standing has been an issue the past four years. The optimistic interpretation is that the world continues to like America and Americans; it simply dislikes American (i.e., the Bush administration’s) policy. I hope Mr. Bradley’s take is wrong.

I’ve been skeptical about all the talk about a conservative revolt over the Miers nomination. Basically, I’ll believe it when I see a Republican senator coming out on the record saying he (she) will vote against the nomination, and not before.
I’m starting to wonder, however, if we can’t be nearing that tipping point with all these “negative” stories (from a conservative’s point of view) coming out about her.
Two more striking examples have come out today. First, John Fund on the selection process:

Mr. Card is said to have shouted down objections to Ms. Miers at staff meetings. A senator attending the White House swearing-in of John Roberts four days before the Miers selection was announced was struck by how depressed White House staffers were during discussion of the next nominee. He says their reaction to him could have been characterized as, “Oh brother, you have no idea what’s coming.”
A last minute effort was made to block the choice of Ms. Miers, including the offices of Vice President Cheney and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It fell on deaf ears. First Lady Laura Bush, who went to Southern Methodist University at the same time as Ms. Miers, weighed in. On Sunday night, the president dined with Ms. Miers and the first lady to celebrate the nomination of what one presidential aide inartfully praised to me as that of “a female trailblazer who will walk in the footsteps of President Bush.”

Ouch. And then Drudge has come out with this damning nugget from Miers’ closet:

The DRUDGE REPORT has obtained a copy of sworn testimony given by Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers in 1990 in which she said that she “wouldn�t belong to the Federalist Society” � a conservative and libertarian lawyers’ organization � because it was “politically charged.”
But Bush’s Supreme Court nominee did not include in that catagory the NAACP and other liberal groups, the transcript reveals!

At a minimum, these leaks suggest there’s someone in the White House interested in undermining the nomination. If GOP senators are looking for a reason to oppose Miers, they may soon find cover. We’ve still got several more weeks of revelations to go.

That President Bush has resorted to using religion as a selling point for his Supreme Court nominee is a contemptible ploy which is rightly being denounced by many bloggers.
I like Josh Marshall’s take:

A year ago, in light of one of White House’s many wag-the-dog stunts, I noted “how truly important it is that we democratize the Middle East. Because once we have, some of them will be able to come back here and redemocratize us.”
Perhaps the same goes for ending theocracy over there. Sooner the better, so they can bring modernity to us too.

Indeed.

I agree–whatever it is that News-Night has evolved into isn’t working.
Currently, the only real news show remaining on prime time cable is Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Everything else is basically celebrity justice/missing white women shows or shoutfests. Apparently, people don’t watch news anymore.