Harriet Miers withdrew her own name from consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court last night; it was announced this morning. Her stated reason was to protect Presidential privilege and keep the White House from having to release confidential documents requested by the Senate. The fact that everybody hates her played no part in her decision.

I think everyone will feel some sort of relief over this. Both liberals and conservatives largely regarded the nomination as a crap shoot; every time some evidence appeared of her work for conservative causes, it was balanced by an old memo criticizing conservative groups. In the end, she could have turned out one or the other, which made it hard for anyone to want to take a chance on her.

At the same time, the door is now open to some kind of “fuck-you” gesture from Bush (though it’s not clear whether it would be the liberals or the conservatives he wants revenge on). Dumping the questionable Miers now raises the even greater question of what’s going to happen next. Either Bush is feeling so ravaged by his recent meltdown that he doesn’t think he can afford to nominate a truly bat-shit conservative, or he is feeling so shaken by the conservative defection over Miers that he thinks he has to.

We’re essentially still in the Miers spot: this could turn out to be good or it could turn out to be bad, and it’s very hard to guess which. One thing is sure: the religious right will claim this as their victory, and demand a super-freak conservative as tribute on the next go-round.