So They Say

AP: Bush: Miers Shares Constructionist Views---

WASHINGTON - President Bush pushed back against suggestions by some skeptical Republicans that Harriet Miers was not conservative enough, insisting on Tuesday that his nominee to the Supreme Court shares his strict-constructionist views.

"I know her heart," Bush told a Rose Garden news conference. "Her philosophy won't change."

As his White House counsel made the rounds of Senate offices, Bush reached out to his conservative supporters with words of reassurance.

"I hope they're listening," said the president as he worked to appease conservatives without giving new ammunition to Democrats.

I don't care about Harriet Miers' heart.

Mr. President, I hope you are listening. We, your base, are upset because you betrayed us. After all we have done, we expected a good Conservative in the mold of Scalia and Thomas, not some lawyer friend. Giving us a little pat on the head and a piece of candy will not appease us. This is something important we are talking about.

Saying "trust us" doesn't cut it this time.

Also in the article, the media's obligatory bow to R.I.N.O.s. I wouldn't put Orrin Hatch on my list of top conservatives.

In welcome news to the White House, Miers won the unqualified support of one of the Senate's top conservatives, Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

"A lot of my fellow conservatives are concerned, but they don't know her as I do," said Hatch, a former chairman of the Judiciary Committee. "She's going to basically do what the president thinks she should and that is be a strict constructionist."

The term refers to justices who believe their role is to decide cases based on a close reading of the Constitution rather than ranging more widely in interpretation.

And how can Orrin, or the President, be sure "she's going to basically do what the president thinks she should"?

Does President Bush have Harriet Miers under the Imperius Curse?