Cronyism as a core value

OF ALL THE despondent conservative reactions to Harriet E. Miers' Supreme Court nomination, my favorite came from National Review editor Rich Lowry, who quoted a source he described as a "very pro-Bush legal type." The source complained that Miers is "not even second rate, but third rate," and proceeded to despair that "a crony at FEMA is one thing, but on the high court it's something else entirely."

The Supreme Court, you see, is important. What bad could come of having a crony at FEMA? Oh, right.

The conservative schism over the Miers nomination has opened an interesting intellectual fault line on the right. Conservatives have long found cultural populism to be one of the most effective weapons in their arsenal. When you're stuck defending the interests of the super-rich, it's quite useful to position yourself against the educated snobs and phonies.

For most conservatives, this is a useful cynical ploy, one that helped elect President Bush twice. But Bush actually believes it.

Unsurprisingly, those Republicans who support Miers have gone to this well once again. GOP Sen. John Cornyn of Texas wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "Some have criticized the president because he did not select an Ivy League-credentialed federal appeals court judge." Republican spinner Ed Gillespie assailed critics for their "elitism."

I suppose it \o7is\f7 elitism of a sort to prefer Supreme Court justices who have experience with constitutional law, or have contributed to a law review, or were at least considered outstanding in some way. Miers does not exactly fit the bill.

One former White House colleague, David Kuo, wrote: "When she was elevated from staff secretary to deputy chief of staff for policy, everyone was shocked. She didn't know policy." (He actually said this in the course of defending Miers!) Another former colleague, David Frum, reported that Miers once told him that Bush was the most brilliant man she had ever met.

Why did Bush select her? Because Miers has a personal rapport with the president, having known him from serving as his personal lawyer before following him to the White House.

Most presidents would want their cronies to have some reasonably impressive legal credentials before ascending to the high court. But Bush seems to harbor a principled disdain for meritocracy. Cronyism is one of his core values.