GOP senators assert independence in wake of Miers withdrawal

By Jonathan Allen

Some Republican senators sought to assert their independence from the administration today after Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers withdrew amid heavy pressure from conservative activists.

The battle over Miers had exacerbated a rift between the White House and the conservative Republican base, placing typically loyal GOP senators in between.

Several of them applauded her exit, which President Bush attributed to a desire to protect from Senate scrutiny internal White House deliberations during Miers's time as a top administration aide including, currently, White House counsel.

"I think she made the right decision, and I appreciate it," said Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), a possible 2008 presidential candidate who had been scheduled to meet with Miers this morning.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) called the document issue a "red herring," and Republican senators made no bones about the central role the furor among conservative activists played in Miers's departure.

"It really shows the maturity of the party," said Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), another potential presidential candidate. "This is not a one-person party."

"I'm not just going to roll over," said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

Asked for an interpretation of Senate Republicans' cool reaction to Miers, Lott said, "It says the Senate is going to do its job."

It was not immediately clear when Bush would send the Senate a replacement nomination or whether the confirmation process could be completed before the end of the year.

"I think the new nominee will come quickly," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said. But Frist declined this morning to provide a timeline for the process or say whether a confirmation vote would occur before Christmas.

"I don't want to commit to that," said Frist, who insisted that legislative matters would still be wrapped up before Thanksgiving.

Some Senate Democrats expressed sympathy for Miers.

"She seemed like a decent, honorable woman who got put in a horrible spot and got whipsawed by the religious right," said Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.), a former Judiciary Committee chairman who sits on the panel.

"It's very difficult to operate in an atmosphere where there's such a mean-spirited attack machine," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), whose effort to overhaul the nation's healthcare system in the 1990s was beset by a similarly strong outcry from conservatives.

No Senate Republican had said publicly that they would oppose Miers, but many seemed increasingly displeased with her nomination as the long list of conservative activists and pundits opposed to her grew. The nomination lasted 24 days.

A group of well-known conservatives, including former Bush speechwriter David Frum, had just produced a television ad urging the president to withdraw the nomination.

"Americans for Better Justice applauds Harriet Miers' personal sacrifice," read a statement on the Web site of the group, which was formed to defeat the nomination. "Once again, she has placed her country and President Bush ahead of herself."

The withdrawal comes at a difficult time for the White House, which has been awaiting the possible indictment of senior White House aides in the CIA leak case.

Lott said today that Bush should bring in new staff, a move President Reagan made in his second term by appointing former-Senate GOP Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) to the position of White House chief of staff in the wake of the Iran-Contra scandal.

"I think the White House needs some more experienced hands," Lott said. "[Deputy Chief of Staff] Karl Rove can't do it all by himself - and he might not be there."

Rove has testified repeatedly before the grand jury investigating the leak case.

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