Thank you, my point too. It was extremely distressing to see someone like Ann Coulter echo the liberal snobs when she criticized Miers for not going to an elite school. Most of the problems we have in the country were generated by liberals who went to those "elite" schools.
It's the same argument I read some years back when I read in a sports publication an article by some moron from NYC who was amazed that Larry Bird could be as good as he was despite coming from Indiana. Knowing Indiana's obsession with basketball (by the way Oscar Robertson came out of Indiana too), that phrase indicated the degree of ignorance east coast snobs have with the rest of the country.
Obviously these same people think all good thoughts have to come from out east. It's sad to find out that many well-known conservatives are just as much snobs as the liberals they castigate for being out of touch with common Americans.
This anti-elitism is getting silly beyond belief. No, not everyone who goes to Harvard is genius, and not everyone at SMU is a dolt. But the "elite" schools (including a good number west of the Mississipi) attract the brightest and most ambitious applicants in huge numbers. They are harder to get into, and they are harder to survive in--in short, the odds are in their favor. Let us please remember that "elite" means "best"--not "snootiest".
Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas all went to "elite" schools (Stanford, Harvard, and Yale, respectively). Justice Harlan--the great conservative dissenter on the Warren Court---only went to NY Law School (probably so he could go part time). On the other hand, he was as blue-blooded as they come, got his BA from Princeton, and a Rhodes Scholarship. Elitist through and through.
Many of the conservatives who are opposing this nomination are people who normally support the President. That should make you take their objections seriously, not just brand them as "elitists."