[Racehorse]

It is surely a cross-section of the luminaries of the conservative movement, and just as they've been shredded for daring to question GWB's 'inspired' nomination it seems now Peggy will get dragged through the mud as well.

They--and Peggy--deserve to be muddied up a little bit.

Not so much because they attack Bush wrong headedly, but because they are lazy, victims of their own tunnel vision.  There were plenty of clues Bush was capable and most willing to make this kind of mysterious appointment.  They did not simply miss the clues, they were clueless where to look for them.

An example from the former Governor of Texas:

In December 1994 Colonel Daniel James III was Operations Group Commander, 149th Fighter Wing, Texas Air National Guard.  Son of famed Air Force General Daniel "Chappie" James Jr., number III appeared to be headed for retirement and a return to his full-time job as an American Air Lines pilot.

A Vietnam pilot, smart, articulate, personable, highly capable at everything he took on, respected by one and all (excepting of course the usual malcontents and the envious), James' appointment as Texas Adjutant General in 1995 sent shockwaves through the Texas National Guard.  What did a lowly Air Guard Colonel know about commanding something that included the 49th Armored Division?  How'd you like to be holding your first staff meeting with a group of highly experienced and politically savvy Army Guard Officers who mostly outranked you?

Well, the appointment worked out, sufficiently so that now Lt. General Danny James sits over at Andrews Air Force Base as the Director of the Air National Guard.

Doesn't take too much dirt scratching to find other examples where Bush has reached into his memory bag to pull out highly capable unknowns to place in high profile positions.  People who claim to know the inside of things ought to have a broader field of vision -- and fire.

IMHO, of course.

[skinkinthegrass]

Doesn't take too much dirt scratching to find other examples where Bush has reached into his memory bag to pull out highly capable unknowns to place in high profile positions.

HMM!...like RWR than done w/ North and "the Bear"

[unsycophant]

There were dozens of references made about Miers being on the short list before her name was announced. It's not like President Bush just plucked her name out of thin air and pulled a fast one on the poor pundits.

I'm really disappointed in the talking heads that we've all come to rely on to be our public voices for so many years, because I never believed the clique would shout down their own side in such a shabby way.