WASHINGTON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - The withdrawal of Harriet Miers' Supreme Court nomination dealt another blow to a reeling White House on Thursday but short-circuited a political fight with conservative allies that a weakened President George W. Bush could not afford.

With his conservative base in an uproar over Miers, Bush removed a growing political headache by accepting her withdrawal one day before top administration officials face possible indictments in the CIA leak probe, analysts said.

But the president's fumbling of the nomination to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a crucial swing vote on the nine-member court on social issues like abortion and affirmative action, added to the image of a White House that had lost its political footing.

"Bush was not in a position to fight for Miers now because he has lost so much political support," said Richard Reuben, a law professor and Supreme Court expert at the University of Missouri.

"This takes a difficult issue off the table for him at a very tough time," he said.

The president's approval ratings have dropped to new lows in recent weeks amid public unhappiness with the Iraq war, high gasoline prices and the government's slow response to hurricane devastation on the Gulf Coast.

The news could get worse for Bush on Friday, when a prosecutor is expected to announce whether top political adviser Karl Rove and Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, will face criminal charges over the outing of a covert CIA operative.

IMAGE IN TATTERS

"In the last six weeks, Bush's image of competence and control has been left in tatters," said Andrew Taylor, a professor at North Carolina State University. "The withdrawal of Miers is just another thing that makes Bush look like he's not in control."

Miers, the White House counsel and a longtime friend of the president, told Bush in a letter that she wanted to maintain the privacy of her White House communications with Bush in the face of congressional requests for the documents.

"I am concerned that the confirmation process presents a burden for the White House and our staff that is not in the best interest of the country," she said.

Conservatives, who hope O'Connor's retirement will help shift the court to the right, had questioned Miers' credentials and mounted fierce opposition to her nomination. Democrats called Bush's decision to accept her withdrawal a sell-out to the right.

"Its a telling statement about the instability and ideological confusion facing the White House and the Republican Party," said Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who unsuccessfully challenged Bush for the White House last year.

"If the president really believed Harriet Miers was the most qualified candidate for the Supreme Court, he made a terrible mistake refusing to fight for her and capitulating to the right wing," Kerry said.

The timing of Miers' withdrawal, on the eve of potential indictments in the CIA leak case, could limit attention to the failed Supreme Court nomination and put Bush's political coalition back together at a time when he needs it most, analysts said.

Republicans praised Miers' decision, although several Senate Republicans said they were disappointed it was necessary. "She put the country and the president ahead of her personal interests," Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions said.

Conservatives renewed their calls for Bush to honor his campaign pledge to appoint a new nominee similar to Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the court's most conservative members. Democrats and interest groups on the left braced for the likelihood Bush would accommodate them next time.

"The odds certainly appear to be heading that way," said Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way. "The last thing we need now is a divisive and unnecessarily partisan nomination that would divide the country."

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

Commentary:
What can be said that hasn't already be said?

First, Bush has never known what he was doing so the morons in the media still think war for no reason and record deficits are a sign of Bush being strong. Being wrong is not strong, it's simply wrong. When will the media get it?

Second, the GOP was told what to do by outside groups and conservative pundits. In other words, they decided Mier's fate, not the Senate.

During the presidency of Bush's father, the same conservative pundits and outside groups decided Bush 1 wasn't pure enough to be reelected. They attacked the first Bush because he raised taxes, forgetting to ask if taxes has to be raised? We've learned over the past 10 years that the GOP will do whatever it can to destroy our future. Since the Reagan tax cut they've created 7x more debt than all previous generations combined (over $8 trillion of new debt). The GOP is more interested in Party purity than sound policies. This alone should be enough for every voter to turn away from them for generations.