With Friends Like These
Harriet The Judge

Well, BushCo hasn't necessarily been able to count Pat Buchanan as a friend for some time, with his non-support of the war effort in Iraq. Still, he carries a big stick in the conservative community, and when he says that Harriet Miers qualifications are "non-existent," many folks on the right side of the political spectrum will be listening. Here's an excerpt from his commentary at Human Events Online (what is it with the puffed up nomenclature of these conservative news/commentary sites?):

Handed a once-in-a-generation opportunity to return the Supreme Court to constitutionalism, George W. Bush passed over a dozen of the finest jurists of his day -- to name his personal lawyer. In a decision deeply disheartening to those who invested such hopes in him, Bush may have tossed away his and our last chance to roll back the social revolution imposed upon us by our judicial dictatorship since the days of Earl Warren. This is not to disparage Harriet Miers.  From all accounts, she is a gracious lady who has spent decades in the law and served ably as Bush’s lawyer in Texas and, for a year, as White House counsel. But her qualifications for the Supreme Court are non-existent.  She is not a brilliant jurist, indeed, has never been a judge.  She is not a scholar of the law.  Researchers are hard-pressed to dig up an opinion.  She has not had a brilliant career in politics, the academy, the corporate world or public forum.  Were she not a friend of Bush, and female, she would never have even been considered.