Liberal Talk Radio

Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name. Who will replace her? Does anyone even want the job?

Her official reason is that she wanted to prevent the Senate from seeing White House papers she (and the president) considered confidential:

Mr. Bush issued a statement in which he accepted Ms. Miers’s decision with regret, praised her “extraordinarily legal experience” and her character and said he agreed that senators were intent on gaining access to internal White House documents about her service. Surrendering such paperwork would undercut any president’s ability to get frank and unfettered advice from key aides, Mr. Bush said.

Most people are saying this is B.S., and that the real reason she withdrew is that the Republican base didn’t like her. But part of me is tempted to believe that there’s more to this “documents” angle than would appear. The President’s top aides might be indicted on criminal charges any day. The White House has had to deal with all manner of uncertain legal cases since 9/11, from eavesdropping to torture to enemy combatants. Is this really the right time to give the White House’s own lawyer — who we have to assume was knee-deep in all of this — this kind of exposure?

Update: Rich Lowry agrees with me. Let that be the last time I utter that sentence.