How do you solve a problem like Harriet? or.. Whom will Harriet love next?
I rarely have a problem knowing what to hope for. But do we want Miers defeated or not? Clearly she is ridiculously unqualified, but at least would seem a tad unpredictable and quite possibly not a repulsively right-wing justice. And isn't it at least in the realm of possible that her next love affair, after that for George W., may be for the keen intellect of Steven Breyer and not Antonin Scalia? That she may hope to win favor with the cool suave of David Souter and not Clarence Thomas? Don't we at least have a 40% chance or so that the impetuous, flitting heart of one Harriet Meiers may just wander upon one of our own? Do we really want W to have another chance at appeasing the rabid right-wing Christian base? Wouldn't the next nomination be a much more frighteningly known quantity? Especially now that conservatives have all called Bush a coward? And if Miers is confirmed, won't this huge Republican rift stay open and festering? And isn't that a glorious thing to watch?

Maybe, like Robert Scheer, I just have a hard time hoping on the same side as George Will, Trent Lott, and James Dobson. I know it's good political theater, but I have no idea what to hope for in the outcome.