Defending Miers, digging a deeper hole.

Kate O'Beirne made a pithy statement about the Miers nomination on "Meet the Press" today. The specific issue was the lack of judicial experience, and they'd just run a tape of Justice Scalia sounding positive about having "people with all sorts of backgrounds" on the Court.

MS. O'BEIRNE: The lack of judicial experience is not fundamentally important here. I agree with Justice Scalia. Look at Robert Bork in 1987. Robert Bork, of course, remains a hero to the conservatives. Nobody knew his personal views on any issues. Nobody asked his personal views on any issues because he had well-stated, well-understood views on the Constitution. Because Harriet Miers doesn't have those, surrogates of the White House are pointing to her personal opinions, which she shouldn't be bringing onto the Court, and to the fact that she's an evangelical Christian, which some supporters of the president find persuasive. We shouldn't care about what her personal creed is. We want her to be faithful to the Constitution. But they can't make those arguments on her behalf because she's expressed over the years no interest in or opinions on any of these constitutional issues.

Yes, this is a fundamental problem. Those most vocally opposed to the Miers nomination are strong social conservatives. But the attempt to win them back repels people who care about the proper functioning of the courts. In fact, early on the show they had Dr. Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, defending the Miers nomination, and he was saying things like this (when asked why he wasn't concerned that Miers would become "another Souter"):

Because I trust the president and this president is not those previous presidents. George W. Bush, if he's anything, is a man of his word. And if there's any issue that he's earned the trust of conservatives on, it's this issue. ... He picked a person he's known for 15 years, and I believe he picked her because he knows her that well and he knows that she will vote the way he would want her to vote.

MR. RUSSERT: In fact, there was a conference call on Thursday, originated by the White House, someone who claims to have been on the call has shared notes of that with the People for the American Way who've now put it on their Web site. And it has under Dr. Richard Land, you say, "I am from Texas. George W. Bush is from Texas and Harriet Miers is from Texas. And in Texas, we have two important values, courage and loyalty. If Harriet Miers didn't rule the way George W. Bush thought she would, he would see that as an act of betrayal and so would she." Is that accurate?

DR. LAND: It is. It's substantially accurate. I didn't say that those were the only two values. But those are two very important values. And if someone is disloyal, if someone betrays a trust, in Texas, they're right down there with child molesters and ax murderers. And I'm absolutely convinced this president believes absolutely in his heart, and this is not David Souter. George Bush 41 didn't know David Souter from Adam's cat until John Sununu introduced him. The president has known this woman. She's been intimately involved in the selection process for the last five years.

So, great, huh? If Miers doesn't go on the Court and vote the way George Bush wants her to vote, she's on a level with an ax murderer, according to the governing Texas values that are meant to reassure us.