HARRIET MEIRS: MY GUESS ABOUT WHAZZUP ...

... with Bush's SCOTUS nominee to replace O'Conner.

The MSM is reporting his conservative base feels the President betrayed them; the president says he has not. So what is the truth?

By observation, both visual and auditory, I'm led to believe one is just as surprised as the other at the other's reaction.

Based on Bush's pre-announcement heads-up to Dobson, Sekulow, and Colson, here is my take:

• Those who've assumed they speak for the president's base (Kristol, Krauthammer, Coulter, neo-cons, et al) don't. They wrongly believed they were the ones he was beholden to; he doesn't see it that way; he understands they are just one step away from elitist blue-staters.
• Meanwhile, the true base (red-staters), which the president is genuinely beholden to, is given what they wanted ... a real honest, everyday person; one from outside the in crowd and outside the Beltway; a lawyer, but not a shaker or a mover, just a simple every day person who can identify with the people of this great land; and an outspoken evangelical, who just happens to be a great lawyer and one very sharp executive.

The noise makers are now seen for what they really are, erstwhile fairweather supporters; the truly committed base is now seen for what they really are, a not so silent majority (see also here and here); and the fence sitters vacelate.

I'd probably do better prognosticating at the track.

Harriet Meirs; SCOTUS; Supreme Court