Good read and thanks for posting.
I'm reserving judgement until the hearings. I think that is the reasonable thing to do.
I do agree with some other FReepers who have indicated that Dr. Miers will indeed be the legacy of President Bush. If she turns out to be something other than what he stated, his legacy will be really damaged. I respect his remarks that he trusts her, and I think that's an important consideration. I just believe that people will (and rightly so) hold him responsible for how she does on the USSC.
I think that is WHY he chose someone who he knows so long and (hopefully) so well. He wasn't willing to engage in a crap shoot!
If he had chosen someone EXACTLY like Miers, a complete clone with the one difference that he had NOT worked with that clone as closely for so many years, I would be greatly opposed - without question! This woman, though - he knows her work, her work habits, her deeds - far better than he probably knows any other judge, including Roberts. Certainly better than he can possibly know Owen, Brown, Luttig... he wanted as much assurance as he can possibly have in his own mind that this selection would be right.