(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
You didn't answer the question.
Is your preferred heating & cooling guy a "crony?"
No. THe number one qualification for a justice is that they be a strict constructionist, a believer in judicial restraint, and that they never change that position.
If Bush did not know Miers personally for 10 years, there is no chance he would have the faith to believe that she was such a person, and that she would not change. No other justice on the list could satisfy that qualification for him, because he just didn't know them.
He could talk to them, but Reagan talked to O'Conner. He could have people VOUCH for them, but many vouched for Kennedy and Souter.
"No Souters". That is the battle cry. Many here think the best way to ensure that is to pick people who have years on the bench. But lower court experience is not the same as supreme court experience, and is not a firm predictor (we know that from experience).
Bush knows the stakes, and chose a person HE says is the one he trusts to meet that most important qualification -- that she's not a Souter.
So, again, the answer to your question is no. On the other hand, let me ask the anti-miers folks this:
If Luttig was a close personal friend of George Bush, would you all be raising this same objection of "cronyism", or would his "obvious qualifications" negate the problem you have with the friendship with the president?
You contradict yourself.
All the griping is because they say Bush "knows" her.
He knows Roberts. He knows Blunt. According to you, the President must choose a SCJ from a crowd of total strangers.
You think CLINTON put strangers into positions in his administration??????????
NONONONONONONONO. He put trusted fellow criminals who would lie for him. No one objected.