As President Bush prepares to make a new appointment to the Supreme Court, the lessons of the failed Miers nomination are still being absorbed.
One that deserves study is how a lightning-fast news cycle, a flat-footed defense and the growth of new media such as talk radio and blogs sank Ms. Miers’s chances even before the megabuck special-interest groups could unload their first TV ad. Ms. Miers herself has told friends that she was astonished at how the Internet became a conveyor belt for skeptical mainstream media reports on her in addition to helping drive the debate.
It seems like the GOP is catching on. Ken Mehlman, who waited a week and a half to talk to bloggers last time around, had a conference call with Republican bloggers this afternoon. I wasn’t there, but Michelle Malkin has links to posts from people who were.