Conventional wisdom on Miers’ withdrawal is that Bush’s next nominee must be someone who shores up his fractured base.  A "fundie wingnut". 

But Kargo X as the Next Hurrah makes an interesting point:

Pat Robertson was for Miers.

Jerry Falwell was for Miers.

And as we all know, James Dobson was for Miers.

So, what’s this "base" that needs appeasing? Is the White House likely to throw another bone to this "base," after it failed so miserably to deliver? Why is the takeaway from this more likely to be that this "base" needs feeding than what I said back on the ninth: a terse note to evangelicals — "we sent up one of yours and you couldn’t get mainline Republicans on board, so you’ve still got some learning to do."

The part of George Bush’s "base" that didn’t show up for Miers is the part that knows when to cut bait. The part of the base that a "fundie wingnut" would be designed to satisfy was the part that clung to the Dear Leader’s petticoats no matter how deep the doo-doo got. How hard would you work to appease them, given that wild horses couldn’t tear them from th’ preznit, and they didn’t show when you needed them?

No, the "base" that Bush needs to appease is the one that cost him this ridiculous joke of a nomination. And while they, too, may be very comfortable with a hardline conservative who might be quite acceptable under the "fundie wingnut" test, that probably won’t be the primary reason the next contestant has their name called.

So maybe we won’t get a fundie wingnut after all.