MORE MUSING ON MIERS….As Kevin pointed out, conservative reaction to the Miers pick is broadly negative. But it’s split into two camps: those who question whether she is “conservative enough” and those who question whether she is qualified. It’s the latter point that really matters, and it’s one reason why I didn’t make a peep about Roberts. The man may be conservative–and I’m in the camp that says you shouldn’t get to vote someone down because you don’t agree with them–but he has a top-notch legal mind. Miers, by comparison, does not.
And that’s not just me talking. Here’s Rich Lowry: “Just talked to a very pro-Bush legal type who says he is ashamed and embarrassed this morning. Says Miers was with an undistinguished law firm; never practiced constitutional law; never argued any big cases; never was on law review; has never written on any of the important legal issues. Says she’s not even second rate, but is third rate. Dozens and dozens of women would have been better qualified. Says a crony at FEMA is one thing, but on the high court is something else entirely. Her long history of activity with ABA is not encouraging from a conservative perspective–few conservatives would spend their time that way. In short, he says the pick is ‘deplorable.’”
If liberals were off on their own making the case that Miers is unqualified, they would be hit with the tried-and-true Bush strategy of claiming bias: “How sad that liberals attack her just because she’s a woman…” Again, this is an insult to the legions of intelligent, highly-qualified conservative women out there who have been passed over in favor of a yes-woman. That, perhaps more than anything else, is what seems so dispiriting to conservatives this morning.
