Between Rick and Rob on Cynicism

I've been following Rick and Rob's exchange on whether the president is being cynical about the abortion issue in his nomination of Harriet Miers. My first response is that it is impossible to know. We can't make an absolute prediction about whether Miers would vote to overturn Roe v Wade, or how she would vote on the various ancillary abortion issues, simply on the basis of the fact that she is an evangelical. We also can't necessarily assume that she and Bush have an "understanding" that he can convey with a wink and a nod to his base. On the other hand, it may be that Bush is perfectly confident in her pro life bona fides on the basis of either or both of those things. I thus can't assume that he is being cynical about the abortion issue (i.e., ritual fealty to a strong pro-life position, but delight with the status quo because of its political usefulness).  Furthermore, even if we assume that she is squishy about Roe, that does not necessarily mean that Bush does not really care, or that there is really not a goal of overturning Roe. It may simply be that a politically vulnerable president does not feel that he can stick his thumb in the Democrats' eye right now, so he nominates someone who is going to be teflon-coated because of her lack of a public record or even a bit of ambivalence on the issue.  Of course, I am always delighted to ascribe the basest motives to the current administration, but I am not sure I can in this case (darn it!).

--Mark