Sirota Advises the Dems on Miers

David Sirota, that feisty little progressive we love so dearly, hits the nail on the head in his analysis of how the Dems need to address Bush’s nomination of Miers:

The Bush White House, not one to overlook their opponents' weakness, are now capitalizing on Democrats missteps on the Roberts' nomination. … The White House's thinking is pretty simple: Democrats have now publicly said that a nominee with a largely unknown record is acceptable, and Miers has that. Should be smooth sailing, right? Wouldn't Democrats look hypocritical to oppose Miers on the basis of her lack of real Supreme Court-qualifying experience or adequate legal credentials, in light of Democrats recent willingness to confirm a nominee with similar drawbacks?

Yes, except for one big chink in her armor - and I stress BIG chink, especially in light of the President's weakened position and swirling controversies over the deleterious effects of cronyism. … Miers has one defining characteristic that is different from Roberts, very troubling, and very politically potent: her major defining career trait is her position as a Bush crony/ultra-loyalist. Though Roberts certainly earned some stripes as a Bush crony in the Florida 2000 fiasco, his ties to the Bushies are small compared to Miers, who seems to be a de facto member of Bush's immediate family.

As Bush's former speechwriter David Frum has written, Miers "rose to her present position by her absolute devotion to George Bush." She was, among other things, his personal lawyer, a political appointee of his in Texas (where she got into a lot of trouble), a hatchet person in Bush's efforts to hide his National Guard record, and an all around Bush bootlicker (Frum said Miers said "the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met").

That last assertion alone is reason to question this nomination. If she can say that Bush is the most brilliant man she’s ever met with a straight face, that’s definitive evidence she’s been cloistered inside his bubble of loyal cronies for far, far too long.

Read Sirota’s whole piece; it’s a good prescription for the Dems to get this hack off the table.