Crony Baloney

Forget the far right assailing the Harriet Miers nomination as some amorphous Dumbya betrayal because she's not on record as a fire-breathing, anti-gay, pro-life nutjob.

Forget the far left assailing the Harriet Miers nomination because they suspect she is a fire-breathing, anti-gay, pro-life nutjob.

The question ultimately comes down to this: What is it that ostensibly makes her a suitable candidate for the highest court in the land?

Sure, William Rehnquist also had no judicial experience when Nixon appointed him to the bench, but he was highly regarded in legal circles for his intellect, such as it was, having been ranked No. 1 in his law school class and distinguishing himself as a top lawyer at the Department of Justice.

Miers' bona fides: deputy counsel at the White House and one-time president of the Texas Bar Association. It is difficult to see how such credentials justify her appointment above scores of respected and experienced jurists.

As much as it pains us to quote George Will, once in a while the guy hits it:

"It is not important that she be confirmed because there is no evidence that she is among the leading lights of American jurisprudence, or that she possesses talents commensurate with the Supreme Court's tasks. The president's 'argument' for her amounts to: Trust me. There is no reason to, for several reasons.

"He has neither the inclination nor the ability to make sophisticated judgments about competing approaches to construing the Constitution. Few presidents acquire such abilities in the course of their pre-presidential careers, and this president particularly is not disposed to such reflections.

"Furthermore, there is no reason to believe that Miers's nomination resulted from the president's careful consultation with people capable of such judgments. If 100 such people had been asked to list 100 individuals who have given evidence of the reflectiveness and excellence requisite in a justice, Miers's name probably would not have appeared in any of the 10,000 places on those lists."

You would think that ...

After Arabian horse competition judge Mike Brown was picked to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency;

After the selection of Julie Myers, a prosecutor with precious little experience in immigration or customs issues, to head the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency;

After the debacle surrounding the work of Jack Abramoff lapdog and recently indicted David Safavian as the White House's top procurement official;

After the appointment of Dumbya's fairy godmother Karen Hughes to serve a quasi-diplomatic role to Muslim nations ...

That the White House would have placed at least a moratorium on in-your-face cronyism. But, hey, George W. Bush has asked that we trust him on this nomination; and if anything, the man has certainly proven himself trustworthy.

And now I'm going to crap my pants.