"This is the right outcome for a mistaken nomination. But how does Bush find a female version of John Roberts?"
The underlying assumptions are incorrect. We don't need someone with a "thin file/almost no judicial history". The president needs to get his base back yesterday. Especially if indictments are coming, he will need every available conservative in his corner. If he delivers on a predictable originalist jurist that is known to the base, even if that results in a brawl, then he will immediately shore up his support. If he serves up Alberto Gonzales, the fight will make the Miers nomination look like a picnic.
He can serve up a nominee to get his conservative base back, but he will face a filibuster and must then reach for the nuclear option. Not good.
He needs someone who he knows is conservative under the surface but who has nothing out there for the Democrats to chew on. That was why he chose Miers, but he didn't have his people check out her knowledge well enough ahead of the nomination. That was his mistake.
DA740