Demagogue

That seems to be the common consensus in many conservative circles in response to the nomination of Harriet Miers.

Bush's former speechwriter David Frum has written some not-so-nice things to say about her, "She rose to her present position by her absolute devotion to George Bush. I mentioned last week that she told me that the president was the most brilliant man she had ever met. To flatter on such a scale a person must either be an unscrupulous dissembler, which Miers most certainly is not, or a natural follower. And natural followers do not belong on the Supreme Court of the United States." Don't bother trying to find this comment on his blog, apparently it is suddenly no longer there. (Thank goodness for Google cache!)

Powerline calls her "a disappointment" and points out the obvious-- this was a GOP-style affirmative action appointment and that Bush has "thumbed his nose...at conservatives."

Nobody is happy or excited over at The Corner. Same can be said about the reaction of some folks on our Southern, Christian conservative step-sister blog Southern Appeal, Steve Dillard writes, "I am done with President Bush: Harriet Miers? Are you freakin' kidding me?! Can someone--anyone--make the case for Justice Miers on the merits? Seriously, this is the best the president could do?"

Townhall's blog echoes many of the same concerns, "Bush is asking us to trust him, big-time. I'm not sure how willing folks are going to be to do that." They also summarize Bill Kristol's response on FoxNews, "it sends a very bad signal for Bush to pass over distinguished conservative women with strong records who have been fighting for constitutionalism for years for someone with no record."

Right Wing News calls Bush's nomination "undoubtedly the worst decision of Bush's entire presidency so far."

Over at the conservative SCOTUS blog Confirm Them say they are "not thrilled." In the comments everyone commenting is expressing deep disappointment, outrage and frustration. Not only is Miers not a proven conservative they are all turned off by the unabashed cronyism. If they are an adequate sample of die-hard conservative opinion Bush has truly ticked off his base.

Nutty Public Advocate blasts Bush, calling the nomination "a betrayal of the conservative, pro-family voters whose support put Bush in the White House in both the 2000 and 2004 elections and who were promised Supreme Court appointments in the mold of Thomas and Scalia. Instead we were given 'stealth nominees,' who have never ruled on controversial issues, more in the mold of the disastrous choice of David Souter by this President's father."

Certain people will always be Bush's lapdog, Frist attempts to be reassuring, "With this selection, the president has chosen another outstanding nominee to sit on our nations highest court. Ms. Miers is honest and hard working and understands the importance of judicial restraint and the limited role of a judge to interpret the law and not legislate from the bench."

One of the early examples conservatives are citing for their lack of confidence in Miers's true blue conservative bonafides is because in 1988 she donated to Gore's presidential campaign! How bizarre! She also gave money to Lloyd Bentsen's senatorial campaign.

It'll be interesting to see how this all shakes out. At first glance she doesn't appear to be nearly as teflon as Roberts who at the very least is considered to be an outstanding, brilliant legal scholar. But Miers? After Roberts she seems like a lighter-than-air lightweight, nothing more than a successful lawyer and Bush loyalist who was nominated primarily because Bush likes her and she wears high heels. The only clear signal sent by the nomination of Miers is that Bush just isn't in the mood for a knock-down, drag out fight over a proven conservative idealogue. I'm wondering if Karl Rove underestimated how disappointed Bush's base is going to be with Miers.