is also for Miers. “The Republicans have claimed the principle that barring maleficent revelations a president should be granted his nominee for the federal judiciary.” That is a very low bar–have Republicans really adopted this position? “If they were to join the Democrats in contradicting their own sensible principle and thwarting the President, the partisan Democrats would be justified in voting down any future conservative nominee.” It seems more accurate to say that if they adopt Tyrrell’s standard, Republicans would never be justified in voting down any plausible liberal nominee. Tyrrell argues that boredom has caused the current conservative infighting. “This town is easily bored and boredom often sets in motion some of history’s most frivolous events.” The argument itself seems frivolous to me. “Think back. Was it not general boredom that accounted for the election of Bill Clinton over the perfectly normal President George H. W. Bush?” Well, actually, no. No, it wasn’t.