To Be Expected

The New York Times' David Kirkpatrick reports that "Senators in GOP Voice New Doubt on Court Choice."

Is anybody surprised by that? Republican senators haven't gotten to be senators by being politically stupid (despite the occasional dazzling bit of evidence to the contrary). Given that a significant and vocal portion of the Republican base has continued to scream about the nomination like their collective hair's on fire, what kind of politically tone deafidiots would step right up at this point and express renewed and supreme confidence in a nominee that's under such heavy attack by an influential cadre of their own supporters -- before the hearings?

That being said, it doesn't seem as though any senator has offered any new, concrete reasons for his (or her) doubts. The long and short of it appears to be that Republican senators -- like me, and like most of America -- are waiting for the hearings before making a final decision on whether or not to support Harriet Miers. They are keeping their options open, and letting Miers opponents know that their message is coming through loud and clear (a message that it's particularly important to transmit, by the way, if they're going to vote for the nomination in the end). It's the politically intelligent thing to do -- savvy, perhaps, but hardly surprising.