On Loyalty
There's one more thing that is apparent: the President opted to not have a fight. That's not, in and of itself, a negative. However, it raises important issues on both sides of this issue.
Why avoid the fight? What happened to the promise of nominating justices in the likeness of Thomas and Scalia? The next justice appointed will be, in effect, the "swing vote" on the Court. This one 
would be worth the fight.
It's no secret that the president hasn't received the best PR lately, with the handling of Iraq and Katrina (regardless of how much of that PR was warranted). It hurt his numbers. While I'm sure that strategists, like Karl Rove, would take this into consideration, my hope is that it would not be the highest priority. Where does loyalty lie? Did popularity and the Democratic plea for "unity" and "bringing the country together" win out?
We're told that we need to "trust" and be loyal to our president. Yes, I believe that Bush can be trusted. He is a good man, a good president. However, he has not always acted like a conservative one. So, "trust" and loyalty are not enough right now. That is what struck me about Ingraham's quote. Conservatives are not being disloyal by questioning the president's choice. They're actually being loyal to the principles and the values that led us to voting him into office. THAT is true loyalty.
I understand the concern on behalf of conservatives like Bill Kristol, David Frum and Laura Ingraham that in the moment many of us would say was the very reason Bush was elected he balked. It does appear, whether or not it is, to be a cowardly choice.
That said, I think there is such a thing as going overboard and doing more harm than good in the type of criticism of the president and Miers. I heard Stephen Bainbridge on Hugh Hewitt's show yesterday. By the end of the interview, Hugh asked the professor about how productive it is that some have proposed that Barney would have made a better choice for the Court. Bainbridge missed the opportunity to rise above that kind of unproductive, insulting rhetoric. I believe that level of conversation is simply mudslinging and infighting cloaked under the guise of "loyalty" to principles.
Though I am bothered by Bush's opting to not fight, I am more concerned that this nominee will do the job and do it well. We have seen too many unelected, unaccountable judges dishonoring and re-writing the constitution. I don't really care whether she is a political conservative or not. All I care is that she would be loyal to the constitution of the United States.