Last week in this space, readers learned about a feature on the official White House Web site titled Ask the White House, an “online interactive forum where you can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House.” On four occasions in 2004, in her dual capacity as an Administration official and F.O.T.W.H., Harriet Miers sat at a keyboard and fielded questions from the public. How, for instance, did President Bush manage to play horseshoes with his Scottish terrier, Barney? (Harriet Miers: “Metal horseshoes are too heavy for Barney to lift, so he doesn’t carry them around.”) Also:

Karrin from OHIO writes: Where were you on September 11th and what did you do?

Harriet Miers: Karrin, I was traveling with the President on September 11, 2001. So I started out in Florida. I was the President’s Staff Secretary at that point in time. . . I was responsible for making sure the remarks he prepared to give to the Nation from Louisiana were properly prepared for him. It took some time, and the President saw me hurrying to give them to him. He said, “Good hustle!” He made me feel good that I was contributing. Typical.

It seems that after her elevation to White House Counsel, Miers was no longer eligible to participate in Ask the White House. And, of course, since her nomination to the Supreme Court she’s been too busy (not to mention, evidently, under a gag order). Fortunately, however, a blogger who writes under the pen name “Harriet Miers” has also stayed busy, posting several times a day at a Web site called Harriet Miers’s Blog!!! (“The blog of the #1 smartest President ever’s #1 pick to be the next Associate Justice of the Supreme Court!”) Like any blogger, “Harriet Miers” has good days and less good ones:

So today I was just thinking . . . serve five or six years on the Bench . . . I could get promoted to Chief Justice . . . and then from there I could go ANYWHERE!! I can write my own ticket! . . . Also, today’s my one-week anniversary of being a Supreme Court nominee! Happy anniversary to me!!

JUST THOUGHT OF SOMETHING
Does anyone have any good recommendations of general books on Constitutional Law, history of the Supreme Court, etc.? THANX!!!

“Harriet Miers,” whoever, wherever she (he?) is, declined a request for a telephone interview but did agree to have an Instant Messaging conversation (buddy name: dallasharriet44).

Talk of the Town: Let’s do word associations: “Constitution”—what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

Dallasharriet44: Of the United States!!! Bill of Rights, Founding Fathers. John Hancock, that’s how it got its name!! . . . I’ve been cramming but it’s hard to find time. . . . Can you bring notes to confirmation hearings?

TOTT: We read in the Times a story about your note to G.W.B. in 1997: “Hopefully Jenna and Barbara recognize that their parents are ‘cool’—as do the rest of us.” . . What was that all about?

Dallasharriet44: George and Laura . . . well, basically they’re really cool but their daughters don’t know it!! I mean, they have figured it out since 2000, but back then they were Too Cool for School and way too cool for mom and dad. You know that age. If you think J&B are party animals, you should hear some of the stories about G&L . . . not from recently, of course.

TOTT: Not being judgmental or anything, just objective, the way all reporters should be, how would you be in a position to define or recognize “cool”?

Dallasharriet44: Well, you don’t know all the sides of Miss Harriet Ellan Miers!!

TOTT: This appeared in a Times editorial: “Ms. Miers’s record is so thin that no one seems to have any idea of what she believes, and she was clearly chosen because of her close ties to the President, not her legal qualifications.” Care to comment?

Dallasharriet44: Well, did the New York Times pick me? Or did the President of the Entire Country, who DOES know all my qualifications?

TOTT: Last question. The Times reported: “White House officials said Mr. Bush formally offered Ms. Miers the job on Sunday night over a dinner of fried shrimp and polenta with Laura Bush at the White House. Scott McClellan, the press secretary, said . . . ‘I don’t think this was something that she expected.’ ” Is that true?

Dallasharriet44: Being Staff Secretary in the White House was an amazing experience. I thought that was going to be my High Light. So I guess I wasn’t wearing a poker face at dinner . . . it was truly the biggest night of my life. . . . I didn’t expect the polenta . . . and I REALLY didn’t expect the Supreme Court Justice nomination!! I knew there would be shrimp tho. . . .

Do I get to see the story early? I PROMISE I won’t blog it.

TOTT: In a word, no.

Dallasharriet44: O.K., then I won’t tell you how I’m going to rule in cases that come before the Court.

TOTT: Bye, Harriet (a.k.a. Ms. Maybe-Our-Next-Female-SC-Justice!).

Dallasharriet44: Well, I have to say, New York gets a bum rap—you’re a good ambassador! Unless you’re “the exception that proves the rule.” Thanks!!! Oh, one thing. TELL YOUR READERS CALL THEIR SENATORS TO SAY “VOTE FOR HARRIET!!” I forgot to say that before. O.K. good night.

— Mark Singer