Repackaging Harriet

October 16, 2005

Repackaging Harriet

Newsweek says the White House is shifting gears on the Harriet Miers confirmation: "OK, so the religious line didn't work so well. The White House is back with a new strategy for its embattled high-court choice."

"They are releasing Harriet 2.0, focusing on an inch-by-inch ground game. The president has conservative allies of his own, chief among them a Jedi of Beltway combat, Newt Gingrich. New talking points were issued to them late last week, focusing on Miers's rather thin list of qualificationsóbar-association presidencies, corporate legal work and a term as a member of the Dallas City Council. The talking points were notable for their absence of even a passing reference to her religion. The switch was a rare, but necessary, admission of a strategic screw-up."

Time has the same story, but adds this shocker: "Republicans are now sweating the Miers vote count and tell TIME that it could be as low as 52 -- embarrassing but still good enough for a lifetime appointment."

The Washington Post says that "while the turmoil on the right offers Democrats a tantalizing opportunity, party strategists said, it also will confront them with a difficult choice: Confirm a conservative with close ties to President Bush, or oppose her and join ranks with hard-right activists who historically are their archenemies."

But for now, the strategy is "to not interrupt the argument that's going on in the Republican camp."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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October 16, 2005