Disclaimer:

The following comments makes two huge assumptions:
1. Bush is accurately judging the character and judicial philosophies of Harriet Miers.
2. Bush is truly seeking conservatives for the court.

Game. Set. Match?

As I’ve been reading and thinking about this whole Harriet Miers thing, it occurs to me that, intentional or not, Bush may have just won the battle for the courts for a generation.

John Roberts is now the Chief Justice, and it is hard to argue that he is not brilliant or that he is not a strict constructionist, at least in rhetoric. The future will show if his tenure on the bench bears that out. It was a bit of a fight, but overwhelmingly, he was confirmed.

Now, Bush has offered up a nominee who apparently has the support of the left, and who has caused reticence (at best) and outrage (at worst) from many people on the more conservative side of the political spectrum. These are people who think the President missed a once in a generation opportunity to appoint someone with a truly conservative record. They were itchin’ for a fight, in some ways, because this is the reason that conservatives put Bush in office. This is why we went to the polls for him. It was for this moment. Some may say he is alienating his base, and that certainly is true. Yet in that alienation comes an anger, there comes a grassroots uprising that is screaming loudly. It is very likely that Miers will be confirmed, and if you trust Bush, it is also very likely that she will be the strict constructionist, conservative jurist who does not legislate, but judges.

So Bush will have gotten two very good judges on the bench and he now has a conservative base that is frothing at the mouth, demanding that his next nomination be very conservative. If, as is likely, he gets at least one more appointment during his presidency, he now will have the people, and hopefully as a result, the spineless Republicans in Congress, behind him - charging, pushing - for him to not do this stealth thing again. They will not tolerate half way next time.

The next time, he will pick a Janice Rogers Brown rather than a Miguel Estrada. Intentionally or not, Bush has played himself into the corner where his next nomination has to be a solid conservative judge.

Around the web.

Others are offering up their thoughts, now that we’ve all had a few days to consider the ramifications of the nomination of Harriet Miers.

PoliPundit makes a case for supporting Miers.
Jay Tea argues that Bush is not a good judge of character.
Captain Ed sees conservative hypocrisy (and danger) in the focus on her religious beliefs.
Red State Rant has some pros and cons.
Volokh looks at the Democrat’s dilemma.
Mark Noonan thinks conservatives are getting what they want without a fight, and should be happy.
Captain Ed says no way is this a skillfully played hand, and slams Gillespie for claiming sexism.

Joel “Henry” Hinrichs III is the young man who committed suicide within 100 yards of a stadium containing 84,000 fans at a University of Oklahoma Sooners football game.

We are being told by David Boren, president of the U of O, that he was a simply a disturbed man who decided to commit suicide.

Mark Tapscott, however, doesnt’ buy it.

Gateway Pundit is similarly convinced that Hinrichs was a terrorist, not just a disturbed individual committing suicide in a spectacular way. He points out that he used the same explosive as Richard Reid. It turns out that Hinrichs also had tried to buy “a significant amount of” Ammonium Nitrate days before the suicide bombing.

There’s more. Hinrichs apparently has attended the mosque around the corner from his apartment. Don’t forget, this is the same Norman, OK where Zacarias Moussaoui lived, worked and conspired. And the two attended the same mosque, according to some reports (via Gen Why). His roommate was Pakistani.

The Oklahoman reports that bomb making materials were found in his apartment, enough for “several trips and could take up to 24 hours to remove it all.” This in itself is not a huge deal, because they probably need to carry the evidence carefully and in small quantities per trip, but it’s another piece of the puzzle.

Joel Henry Hinrichs was a Junior who resided at 506-B Sooner Drive, Norman, OK 73072. Here is a profile from the Oklahoma Daily.

The AP and others are reporting “no terror link.” It certainly is possible, but the following facts sure add up to suspicious.

Suicide bomb (used same bomb making incredients as Richard Ried)
Attended same mosque as Zacarias Moussaoui.
Reportedly a Muslim convert.
Lived in Norman, OK.
Attempted to buy same ingredients used at the Murrah Building.
Pakistani roommate.

Individually, any one or even two of these items may not raise eyebrows, but eyebrows are now being raised.

Try news searches combining the terms Joel Hinrich and any one of the following, and you come up essentially dry: Terror, Mosque, Muslim, Pakistani.

Where is the MSM in all of this?

Some bloggers, including Mark Tapscott, are also questioning David Boren’s quick public reassurance that he was just a disturbed young man. Prior to his current role as university president, as Congressman he was chairman (resigned in 1994) of the Select Committee on Intelligence.

UPDATE: The links to Islamists seem to be getting stronger confirmation by the hour. Tapscott says the FBI’s claims that he “had no known terrorist connections looks increasingly hollow, like something authorities would say if they feared causing a public outcry.” Sounds about right to me.

I suspect sales for Jayna Davis’ book, The Third Terrorist, will be getting a bump in the next few days.

MuD & PHuD asks you look at your neighbor.
Small Town Vet nominates Joel for Darwin Award.
Pundit Review reiterates that it’s blogs leading the charge on this.
Kevin has flashbacks to Tim McVeigh.
Brandon is skeptical, but wants to know how much AN Joel tried to buy.

OU sure is having its share of bomb-carrying students this year.

UPDATE:

Someone send Cardinal Park over at Tiger Hawk Jayna Davis’ book.

Goldstein points out Boren’s shift in rhetoric.

UPDATES 10/7/2005:

The search warrant for Hinrichs’ apartment has been sealed (Via Clarity & Resolve, Ox Rant and Conservative Outpost).

Bob Troester, first assistance U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City, said the department requested the warrant be sealed, but declined to elaborate when asked why it was necessary to do so given previous media reports that a depressed Hinrichs acted alone and on a whim.

“You can draw whatever assumption you like,” he said. “We don’t comment on any sealed indictments.”

Was there a larger plot? Oblogatory Anecdotes points to HomelandSecurityUS.com, which says it looks likely.

Explicitly Ambiguous was stopped in his tracks by the reporting from KKTV, which said:

Investigators say 21 year old Joel Hinrichs III had a remote controlled explosive on his back.

Douglas Hagmann at HS writes:

preliminary findings suggest that the money trail leads directly to a known and active Islamic terrorist cell that has been in operation in the Norman and Oklahoma City, OK area for at least the last 10-15 years, preceding and tangentially involved in the bombing of the Murrah Building on 19 April 1995.

The Therapist has the inside track on Allah’s take.

Nate wonders if Hinrichs was designed to be a distraction from the New York subway threat.

Tapscott wonders if may be he was trying to get arrested at the feed store, and also wonders if the FBI is intentionally avoiding the subject of religion.

Rusty notes the switch in the language in the WND story. Troester was asked about a warrant, and responded about an indictment.

Eric at Classical values is tracking the MSM’s delayed coverage.

That’s what Rusty Shackleford says. Amidst his exclusive scoops on the Ray Nagin bus scandal in New Orleans, he has found time to write a post shamelessly attempting to bait Google (though I still think Kevin tends to win at that game) by working the words “nude” and “Britney Spears” into the same sentence. Sure, it’s news that she is auctioning off a bra and bikinis for charity, but the good doctor clearly seems to be trying to personally benefit from someone else’s generosity. ;-)