Don't you believe a word of it

Apparently anxious to avoid a fight, Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, is positively purring over Mr. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers, a longtime friend, to the highest court in the land. Even Sen Schumer's expected skeptical comments were cloaked in velvet.

Weren't they listening when Mr. Bush said, at his press conference today, that Ms. Miers agrees with him on everything, and that she wouldn't ever, ever change? There couldn't be a clearer message to his supporters on the Christian right: "Don't worry, she's with you." (And don't you think that those same supporters might raise a hue and cry just to throw Democrats and other reasonable folks off the scent? Remember, Karl Rove is still omnipresent.)

After all, "everything" would seem to include abortion, education, embryonic stem cell research, labor, Social Security, tax cuts, environmental regulation, gay marriage, campaign finance reform . . . you get the drift. And don't forget big oil, big business, preemptive war, immigration policy and, most recently, the proposal to use active military at the president's discretion by changing the law on posse comitatus.

No, no sighs of relief are in order. If this nominee is confirmed Mr. Bush will have pulled off the cleverest of all moves. A stealthier candidate even than Judge Roberts, because Roberts was sent to replace someone just like him. The only things that we know this nominee has in common with Sandra Day O'Connor are clear: race and gender. It is what we don't know that will hurt us.

Harriet Miers, a person "with no record" has in fact all the record we need to know: George W. Bush says she is just like him in every way. Now the Democrats' challenge is to get her to admit it.