I tend to agree with you. No guarantees that Bush will have another seat to fill. In fact, I suspect Stevens and Ginsburg will do all they can to hold on until after 2008.
I am taking a wait and see attitude on Ms. Miers for now, and will be following the committee hearings with interest. She may well be qualified for the court, but there is no doubt that cronyism played a role in her selection. I am dismayed, though, at the signal it sends to young conservative judges/attorneys who aspire to be on the court someday. That to be considered by a Republican president (with a Republican senate majority!) you have to be fly under the radar, keeping your strong conservative credentials as low profile as possible.
While I supported Roberts going on the court, I would have preferred that Bush not move him into Rehnquist's position as CJ, and promoted Scalia instead to CJ. At this point in time, it seems that replacing Renhquist and O'Connor with Roberts and Miers will have little impact on the overall makeup of the court, while promoting Scalia to Chief, replacing O'Connor with Roberts, and selecting a solid proven conservative (JRB, Owen, Luttig) to fill the open seat would have definitely moved the court to the right. This was one big reason why I voted for Bush, because he promised to appoint judges in the Scalia/Thomas mold. Miers may or may not be in that mold, but we shouldn't have to wait ten years to find out.
***************
I agree with you there. Scalia was my first choice for Chief Justice as well. I must say that I was quite impressed with Roberts during his confirmation process. He's a brilliant man. Yet I felt that Scalia had earned the CJ position.