"I know her heart."

So says President Bush, as he tries to reassure conservatives about the Miers nomination. I razzed the Democrats for all the "heart" talk at the Roberts confirmation hearings, and the word makes me suspicious. Bush knows hearts (and he can look into a man's eye and see his soul). One wonders if his father believed he knew David Souter's heart.

There's a whole lot of "trust me" here, and it's especially hard to take because he has chosen someone who lacks the elite credentials of so many persons who were on the short list. When Bush chose John Roberts, he presented a person with stunning, silencing credentials. Now, so soon after that, we get the polar opposite. It's very strange indeed! I'm probably much more willing to trust Bush on something like this than most people are, and I'm not big on getting a particular ideology on the Court. (I'm not like the social conservatives who are fretting about the nomination because they want to know the nominee is anti-abortion.) But I do care intensely about competence, and I am highly sensitive to the idea that there is a two-track system, where male appointees are truly stellar and female appointees only need to be good enough and not too offensive to anyone.

UPDATE: From the Washington Times version of the same story, I read this Bush quote:

"I know her; I know her heart; I know what she believes -- remember, she was part of the search committee that helped pick Roberts," he said. "She knows exactly the kind of judge I'm looking for. And I know exactly the kind of judge she'll be."

Jeez, that's like something from a movie script where everyone in the audience is supposed to see the mistake the character is making!