BREAKING: Fox and CNN are reporting that Harriet Miers has withdrawn her nomination. No online stories yet….

8:57 am EST UPDATE: CNN.com has a newsflash

President Bush “reluctantly” accepts Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers’s request to withdraw her nomination.

8:59 am EST UPDATE: AP bulletin is up:

Harriet Miers withdrew her nomination to be a Supreme Court justice Thursday in the face of stiff opposition and mounting criticism about her qualifications.

Michelle is on it too.

9:02 am EST UPDATE: … And Llama Butchers

9:04 am EST UPDATE: … MSNBC reports that Bush has gone with the Krauthammer exit strategy.

Confronted with criticism from both the left and right, Harriet Miers on Thursday withdrew her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a statement, President Bush said he “reluctantly accepted” her decision to withdraw, after weeks of insisting that he did not want her to step down.

The White House said he blamed her withdrawal on calls in the Senate for the release of internal White House documents that the administration has insisted were protected by executive privilege.

And NBC. And Another Attempt.

9:08 am: And Rovian Conspiracy, Pandagon. And Drudge finally caught up.

9:14 am: Here’s the pdf of her withdrawal rquest letter. Blanco Brawler has some thoughts. And Another Attempt has the text of the letter, where she spells out the justification for withdrawal. Good move.

As you know, members of the Senate have indicated their intention to seek documents about my service in the White House in order to judge whether to support me. I have been informed repeatedly that in lieu of records, I would be expected to testify about my service in the White House to demonstrate my experience and judicial philosophy. While I believe that my lengthy career provides sufficient evidence for consideration of my nomination, I am convinced the efforts to obtain Executive Branch materials and information will continue.

As I stated in my acceptance remarks in the Oval Office, the strength and independence of our three branches of government are critical to the continued success of this great Nation. Repeatedly in the course of the process of confirmation for nominees for other positions, I have steadfastly maintained that the independence of the Executive Branch be preserved and its confidential documents and information not be released to further a confirmation process. I feel compelled to adhere to this position, especially related to my own nomination. Protection of the prerogatives of the Executive Branch and continued pursuit of my confirmation are in tension. I have decided that seeking my confirmation should yield.

9:20 EST: Lots more pouring in now…

Fraters Libertas
Royal Flush
Let the Word…
BrainStream
Charging Rino
Holy Coast

And Fox, and WaPo.

Sploid thinks it’s because she had to redo her homework.
The Agitator
To the People
Gay Conservative
Wizbang: The spin is it’s about documents, not qualifications.
Goldberg: Indictments will erase the Miers withdrawal kerfuffle..
Kathryn Lopez similary points out our short memories.

Joyner, regarding her letter: “Unfortunately, she is wrong: her career has indeed been lengthy; it has, however, provided precious little insight into what sort of guardian of the Constitution she would make.”
Captain Ed: “Now can we nominate a candidate whose qualities and track record presumes we control the Senate?”
Matt Johnston predicts: “Look for a state supreme court judge with 15-20 years of appellate experience to be nominated, probably from the South, but the Mid-West looks petty good bet too.”
A Knight’s Blog is shocked.
The Moderate Voice: “They took the ‘out’ offered”

ABP: “We’ll see quickly enough if the President has learned his lessons from this error and nominates a supremely qualified (and properly vetted) conservative jurist in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, as he promised in 2000 and 2004.”
Goldberg adds: No Gonzalez.
Patterico is back inside and wants to rally around Edith Jones or Janice Rogers Brown.
Decision ‘08 has a mini-roundup.
PoliPundit wants Karen Williams.
Don Surber thinks this killed the Bush presidency.
GOP & the City needs a new idea for a halloween costume.
Stop the ACLU asks: “Who do you think he should choose?”
Confirm Them’s Feddie wants William H. Pryor.
Euphoric Reality has another mini-roundup.

No More Mister Nice Blog: “Is he planning to announce a replacemenmt tomorrow, to blunt the impact of whatever Patrick Fitzgerald might do?”
Danny Carlton: “Now we just have to wait for the other shoe to drop…will Bush pick another dud or a real nominee this time?”
Junkyard Blog: “Now let’s get a real conservative nominated and get ready to rumble.”
North American Patriot: “My choice? Janice Rogers Brown, baby…No question.”
Ian’s got open trackbacks going.
Sister Toldjah is glad Patterico is safe.

WSJ quotes Harry Reid: “The radical right wing of the Republican Party killed the Harriet Miers nomination.” and Schumer: “a fine and capable person, but this was clearly the wrong position for her.”
Gateway Pundit: “Bless Harriet Miers. Next!”
Instapundit: She is to be commended.

KOS: A win for the wingnuts.
Wizbang quotes Durbing: “What we need now is a centrist nominee, someone who’s not too far to the right or too far to the left.” and Reid: “I hope the President doesn’t reward the bad behavior of his rightwing base.”
Conservative Outpost: “This gives the President a chance to start over and find a nominee that would completely unite the conservative base.”
Volokh says the system worked. And he suggests Michael McConnell or Karen Williams.
LaShawn is not optimistic: “But I predict George Bush will nominate another unqualified person. Perhaps his tailor. Or his dentist. Or his dog walker.” Ouch.
Daly Thoughts: What did Sensenbrener really know?
McBride thinks Diane Sykes is likely.

I wonder if there will still be a Dobson-hunt on Capitol Hill.

Iowa Voice: “Hip-Hip-Hooray!”
Donky Stomp: “It’s a shame that conservatives were so quick to criticize Miers…”
Blogs for Bush: “Now it’s time for Bush to nominate someone conservatives can unite behind.”

Beth at MyVRWC: “I’m still disgusted by the nastiness of some of the Miers nomination opponents, and the nasty rhetoric and tactics that some have used has made me mistrust many of them even more than I already mistrusted fair-weather friends. I hate to think that they’ll feel their tactics have been affirmed by Miers’ withdrawal, because I hope this has been the last episode of center-right cannibalism that we have had to endure for a long time.”

Charmaine: “The Indefensible Speech finished her.”

Laura Lee Donoho: “Who are the losers? Any attorney who has real world experience and hasn’t served as a judge.”
Martini Pundit thinks Miers should get the consolation prize.
Real Clear Politics: “A more speculative interpretation of the timing of the withdrawal is that the President knows there are indictments coming down tomorrow and needs to have his base support consolidated. ”

Q&O: “I have to believe that the vigorous opposition in the blogosphere played a large part in the outcome of this nomination—if not by actually changing minds in the White House, at least by building and fanning the flame of dissent among those on the Right. As powerful as the George Will and Charles Krauthammer columns were, I’m not sure that the pre-blogosphere punditocracy could have created such a furor”

California Conservative is doing the Miers open trackback thing.