Federalist #76 and the New Supreme Court Nominee

From Federalist #76:

[The President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure.

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Now, after that appeal to authority, I have to say that I support the nomination of Harriet E. Miers. She is not particularly qualified or incompetent. Her resume includes 2 main highlights: President of the Texas Bar Association and Attorney to George W. Bush.

What I know about her work for Bush: She handled a land dispute for him regarding a fishing camp he owns and she got him out of Jury duty in order to hide his DUI from the public in his run-up to the Texas Governor's race.

The other thing I know about her is that she is, at best, making conservatives say 'we'll wait and see'. They aren't happy with her at all. Cheney was called on Rush Limbaugh's show a few hours after her nomination to do damage control. Rush was already decrying the decision. When you have the party faithful THAT upset, its a big deal. Trent Lott says he's not that impressed with her so far.

Earlier this week i heard a joke that he picked her by grabbing the first person he ran into in the hall that morning. that is perhaps not far from the mark. She has never been a judge, professor, or litigator (working in trial in front of a judge). she's not written any body of academic work. She reeks of cronyism.

I sill like her. Know why?

Because if she doesn't get in, Bush will pick a real fire breathing zealot and that judge will be confirmed. he cannot handle the heat of doing this again. looking weak by picking someone approved/suggested by the Democratic Leadership of the Senate. For all the reasons someone might not like her now, I can't help but think that she's as good as we're going to get right now and we ought to be happy. it could be a MUCH worse. Let's keep the crony for now. she's certainly the lesser of about a million evils.