I was busy on another thread and missed these posts. I will gladly answer your question.
Yes, I believe Bush knew exactly what he was doing when he made the Miers appointment.
Here is why.....
Looking back over the Bush history in office there have been numerous times that the party, the nation and the world have been surprised and and misunderstood the intent and purpose, or the plan behind the act.
I truly believe that this happened again, but because of his lame duck status, Senators from our party have been distancing themselves from Bush. It is because of the war, gas prices, the budget or past animosities.
They balked and did not do what they usually do with a nominee, and pundits led by two past enemies of Bush, started the ball rolling. (Frum, and Krystol and a few others) Miers came as a surprise to even me, in spite of the fact her name was floated as being on the A list.
I believe that Bush found the only woman he could trust for that position, and had plans, if confirmed, that she would act in a supporting role, to add meat to the requirements of a five judge consensus to go back and change what is now called settled law and reverse the tinkering that the Warren court and others did to case law, which led to Roe, and other crazy decisions.
It does not take a prima donna expert jurist to do that. It takes a dedicated and loyal servant of the constitution and one who is interested in correcting past wrongs that brought us Roe.
Do you think for a minute that a top drawer judge with a pedigree would act as a team member like Thomas does today? Thomas had no pedigree or track record of note either, but works with Scalia.
This is what it takes to form a court that someday will be called the Roberts court. It takes team work and cooperation, and you cannot get that with nine pedigrees! It will never happen.
That is my case, but now it is moot. He will not be able to do it now, and it's a damn shame. We could have had a notable and powerful court to do exactly what we needed done.
There will be one more pick after this, and I hope he can cobble something together, but if you people keep tying his hands, and you will...he cannot do a damn thing but pick prima donna pedigreed A'holes for the court, and he has never made a bad decision on important issues before.
Yet you all just blew that all off and attacked.
So now, you reap what you sowed. History should reflect what I have written today, when it is time to do so.
There is a story today about how she handled the mock hearings. By all accounts, she did terribly and outsiders were not even allowed in for fear of embarassment. Does this not bother you in terms of how she might have done on the floor of the Senate?