A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

As anyone who has been paying attention knows, I am at best lukewarm on the Harriet Miers nomination--when I am not, of course, boiling over in fury at an opportunity missed. And as anyone who has been paying attention knows, I am certainly not the only Republican to feel this way.

The White House has certainly been paying attention to the discontent. Thus, this: 

After a blistering week, the White House is scrambling to control a conservative uprising over the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court, with President Bush pitching his choice directly to the public on Saturday as his Republican allies plotted strategy to shore up support.

"Harriet Miers will be the type of judge I said I would nominate: a good conservative judge," Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address. He added, "When she goes before the Senate, I am confident that all Americans will see what I see every day: Harriet Miers is a woman of intelligence, strength and conviction."

It was the third time since he picked Ms. Miers on Monday that the president has come to her defense. His remarks came as Senator Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who presides over confirmation hearings, offered a blunt assessment that was yet another sign that the nominee faced an uphill battle on Capitol Hill. Though Mr. Specter called Ms. Miers "intellectually able," he said she had a "fair-sized job to do" to become fluent in the language of constitutional law, which will be essential for senators who want to examine her judicial philosophy in deciding whether to confirm her.

"She needs more than murder boards," Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in an interview, referring to the mock question-and-answer sessions most nominees use to prepare for their confirmation hearings. "She needs a crash course in constitutional law."

Okay, I am certainly displeased with the fact that Ms. Miers lacks the requisite experience with Constitutional law to be able to provide the kind of intellectual leadership that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have provided--and that Chief Justice Roberts most assuredly will provide. But to hear Arlen Haggis Super-Duper Precedent Loving Specter get snooty about the issue is a bit too much. He needs his own crash course in Constitutional law--not to mention a whole host of other legal issues--and really isn't in any position whatsoever to knock the legal education of others.

Later on in the article, we have this:

Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice, said generating enthusiasm for Ms. Miers was proving difficult because “anytime we put out something positive about her it gets shot to pieces by all our allies and the blogs.”

To which the following is the perfect reply: 

Gee, I don’t know, but if that kept happening to me, I’d wonder what it was I was missing. I mean, hey guys, why don’t they just keep reprinting our press releases and talking about how awesome she is? C’mon, Bush picked her!