Slop

Any bad pool players out there? I'm a bad pool player. I poke a way with my stick, and have not idea what is going to happen. Sometimes I miss an easy shot but the crazy rebound off two banks makes a ball drop. Or the same result occurs when I just close my eyes and hit the cue-ball for power. Good players call this "slop." When it happens to me I pretend that I meant to do that the whole time. That crazy bank shot was all part of my plan.

Which brings me to Harry Reid and Harriet Miers. Reid, the leader of the Dems in the Senate, suggested Miers as a potential SCOTUS Justices to Bush and made lots of positive noise when she was nominated. Now that the Miers nomination has totally blown up in the face of Bush, people are starting to say this was a master political stroke by Reid. I'm not so sure. For all we know Reid thought that Miers would be the best he could get out of Bush or maybe he really liked her. But now Miers is causing Bush all kinds of trouble with conservatives. So what do you do if your Reid? Act like you meant to do it:

Initial reports last week indicated that Miers would get significant Democratic support. One reason Bush picked his long-time ally was that she was among a slate of acceptable candidates provided by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"I like Harriet Miers," Reid said the day the nomination was announced. He called her a "trailblazer for women" and said her experience as a practicing lawyer would "benefit" the court.

Reid did not endorse her, though, and aides are careful to say he has not made up his mind.

"Sen. Reid did suggest that President Bush take a look at Miers," said Reid spokesman Jim Manley. "But he'll be reserving judgment until the committee process plays itself out."

That's what distancing sounds like. If it looks like Miers is in real trouble and Reid can push her over the edge, he will. Reid could end up crippling Bush politically and it was just slop. But the important thing is to act like you knew what you were doing the whole time.