Harriet Miers is an unwilling gift to the Democratic party.

The Republican party, by strength of their own scandals, no longer has the political will for the nuclear option. That means Democrats could have filibustered an extremist nominee with impunity. Knowing that, Bush was stuck.

Here’s how I (hopefully) see this playing out: Democrats will call for documents (of course) and talk about having questions answered. Other than that though, they’ll sit back and let the far-right do all of the bashing. They won’t really sit back though. They’ll endorse her because it will prove to the far-right that they’re being duped. Going into the 2006 primaries, it’s a great wedge between the moderates and the zealots.

The usual obstination just isn’t worth it. It would leave the Democrats looking obstructionist but, on top of that, I think there is a good chance she’s another Souter or Kennedy. And, whether we want to admit it or not, the winner of the election does have some say, to put it mildly.

UPDATE: I just listened to Sen. Mark Pryor (D – Arkansas) talking on Hardball. He is taking a neutral stance and sounding every bit the statesman on this issue. That’s fine. He came off great. So far I haven’t seen any Democratic senator have a kneejerk response against Miers. Meanwhile the right-wing blogs haven’t let up. They’re still apoplectic over this nominee.