I think it has been a mistake to emphasize the fact that Harriet Miers has not been a judge, and to use this as a reason to oppose her nomination. History has shown that many of our best Supreme Court Justices, even Chief Justices have not been judges before they took their position on the SCOTUS: Marshall (John), Warren, Berger and Rehnquist to name a few. (Ok, while I'm not I fan of Rehnquist’s judicial philosophy, it would be difficult to argue he wasn't a proficient and informed justice....) The difference of course is that before they were appointed they were governors, attorney generals or the secretary of state; Miers ran the Texas Lottery. She simply is not qualified, and the appointment reeks of cronyism........

Don't take my word for it.......

"I eagerly await the announcement of President Bush's real nominee to the Supreme Court. If the president meant Harriet Miers seriously, I have to assume Bush wants to go back to Crawford and let Dick Cheney run the country."

"Unfortunately for Bush, he could nominate his Scottish terrier Barney, and some conservatives would rush to defend him, claiming to be in possession of secret information convincing them that the pooch is a true conservative and listing Barney's many virtues — loyalty, courage, never jumps on the furniture ... "

"Her greatest legal accomplishment is being the first woman commissioner of the Texas Lottery."

"While Bush was still boozing it up in the early '80s, Ed Meese, Antonin Scalia, Robert Bork and all the founders of the Federalist Society began creating a farm team of massive legal talent on the right. To casually spurn the people who have been taking slings and arrows all these years and instead reward the former commissioner of the Texas Lottery with a Supreme Court appointment is like pinning a medal of honor on some flunky paper-pusher with a desk job at the Pentagon — or on John Kerry — while ignoring your infantrymen doing the fighting and dying."

"Bush may as well appoint his chauffeur head of NASA as put Miers on the Supreme Court."

"However nice, helpful, prompt and tidy she is, Harriet Miers isn't qualified to play a Supreme Court justice on "The West Wing," let alone to be a real one. Both Republicans and Democrats should be alarmed that Bush seems to believe his power to appoint judges is absolute. This is what "advice and consent" means. "

The above are taken from this liberal firebrand......