More idiocy from Eugene Robinson:
It's much more likely that Miers was done in by the shocking revelation that she holds, or once held, views that suggest a modern and reasonable view of America. As The Post reported earlier this week, when she was president of the State Bar of Texas she gave a speech in which she said "self-determination makes sense" as a way of handling issues such as abortion and separation of church and state. She also set numerical targets to achieve racial and gender diversity in the legal profession.
Of course Robinson ignores the fact that she had already been long under fire before that. Indeed, the Krauthammer column that suggested the strategy eventually picked up by the White House for ending her nomination came out last week. What he misses is that it wasn't her views -- I don't even know what her views are -- it's that she was unqualified. Working for the Texas lottery commission and being religious doesn't exactly get it done for me when it comes to the Supreme Court. This is a point that even the Post's liberal cartoonist Tom Toles gets.
Meanwhile, Robinson reveals that while he has issues with Bush, he at least applauds his commitment to tokenism:
I have many, many problems with George Bush, but I do believe that in his own way he has some commitment to diversity. If it's just tokenism, it's more impressive tokenism than the Democrats were ever able to muster -- Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales are all trailblazers. I think he wanted to put a woman on the court to replace Sandra Day O'Connor, and I think he would be right to believe that some of Miers's harshest critics were being patronizing and sexist.
So to the extent he likes Bush it's because he thinks he has a penchant for placing symbolism over substance. Great.
But back to the Miers nomination. Looking around, I've noticed a lot of teeth-gnashing from Robinson, EJ Dionne Jr, Sen. Harry Reid, Ralph Neas, Daily Kos and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. Given the opposition from this crowd I have no idea what some conservatives are so upset about. This is stark evidence that her withdrawal is welcome news.
