For what it's worth, I'm surprised by George W. Bush's selection of Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court nominee. Point One: She has no judicial experience and while that may not be a disqualifier in and of itself, you'd think this would not be the time Bush would want to have the accusation that he's appointing an inexperienced crony to a position of great responsibility. Point Two: She's sixty years old. There's been a lot of talk that Bush (and Karl Rove) wanted to reshape the government their way for as close to "forever" as they could manage. That would have suggested a nominee in his or her forties.
Point Three: She's not the slam dunk Roe-reversing, pull-the-court-to-the-right vote that many Bush supporters were craving and which some even felt was owed to them. She may turn out to be that but an awful lot of Conservative voices are outraged now, at a time when Bush seems to need their support more than ever. Over at the Liberal blog, Eschaton, the legendary Atrios makes the following point which I think is correct, especially the part about how we really don't know how she'll impact the court…
I have no idea what kind of judge Miers will be and nor probably does anyone else in the commentariat. We probably won't know for a few years either way (assuming for the moment that she's confirmed) unless the nice people in the press do some digging to try to find out. All we do know is she's a reliable Bush fixer.
Wingnuttia is rather angry at the choice. I don't think this is because they're really concerned that she's not conservative enough for their tastes, although that's part of it. They're angry because this was supposed to be their nomination. This is was their moment. They didn't just want a stealth victory, they wanted parades and fireworks. They wanted Bush to find the wingnuttiest wingnut on the planet, fully clothed and accessorized in all the latest wingnut fashions, not just to give them their desired Court rulings, but also to publicly validate their influence and power. They didn't just want substantive results, what they wanted even more were symbolic ones. They wanted Bush to extend a giant middle finger to everyone to the left of John Ashcroft. They wanted to watch Democrats howl and scream and then ultimately lose a nasty confirmation battle. They wanted this to be their "WE RUN THE COUNTRY AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT" moment.
Whatever kind of judge she would be, she doesn't provide them with that.
I think it's kinda nice when the extreme right doesn't get what they want, especially with regard to something as important and lasting as a Supreme Court appointment. It will be nice the next time the extreme left is disappointed in some Democratic nomination, as well. I guess my idea of the ideal Supreme Court would be nine potential swing votes, none of them as unashamedly predictable as some have been. This will never happen but it's still nice to imagine.