Miers Nomination - Noonan Nails It

Peggy Noonan's column in today's Wall Street Journal provides a useful view of the split between many conservatives and the Bush Administration over the Miers nomination. However, I seriously doubt Bush will withdraw this nomination as Noonan would hope for.

Besides the Administration's vicious attacks on conservative dissenters - sexists, elitists, etc. nonsense - the President bungled this by making Miers religious views front and center in defending her, right along side "trust me." As Noonan admonishes the White House message team:

And next time perhaps the White House, in announcing and presenting the arguments for a new nominee to the high court, will remember a certain tradition with regard to how we do it in America. We don't say, "We've nominated Joe because he's a Catholic!" A better and more traditional approach is, "Nominee Joe is a longtime practitioner of the law with considerable experience, impressive credentials, and a lively and penetrating intellect. Any questions? Yes, he is a member of the Catholic Church. Any other questions?"

That's sort of how we do it. We put the horse and then the cart. The arguments for the person and then the facts attendant to the person. You don't say, "Vote for this gal because she's an Evangelical!" That shows a carelessness, an inability to think it through, to strategize, to respectfully approach serious facts--failings that, if they weren't typical of the White House the past few months, might be called downright sexist.