The GOP eats its own

Harriet Miers withdrew her name as a Supreme Court nominee today thanks almost entirely to a firestorm of criticism from Republican commentators. Unless you buy into the conspiracy theory that Miers' nomination was a feint to ease the next nominee's path to the bench -- and I don't -- the withdrawal is a huge political defeat for President Bush and a sign of social conservatives' continually growing influence within the GOP.

With that being said, the next nominee is likely to have a much more extensive track record as an opponent of abortion and gay marriage. This time, the bulk of the criticism probably will come from the left side of the aisle.