Passion play

Excellent, woeful Rich Lowry essay on the inherent hypocrisy of the President's endorsement of Harriet Miers on her religious merits:

The White House and its allies have long argued that it is wrong to bring a judicial nominee's faith into the discussion about his merits, and any attempt to do so amounts to religious bigotry. When it was suggested that John Roberts's Catholic faith might be an area for inquiry in his confirmation, White House allies recoiled in horror.

Now the White House tells conservatives that Miers will vote the right way because she's a born-again Christian. This is the chief reason that some prominent Christian conservatives are supporting her, in a blatant bit of right-wing identity politics. They apparently believe her religious faith will determine what she thinks about the equal-protection clause, the separation of powers, and other nettlesome constitutional issues. As sociology, there is something to this — an evangelical is more likely to be conservative than a Unitarian — but to place so much weight on Miers's demographic profile, rather than her own merits and judicial philosophy, is noxious and un-American.

But don't worry: As soon as Democrats try to probe Miers's evangelicalism, these Republicans will be back to saying her faith should be off-limits

Christopher Hitchens said as much in a recent essay. Those confirmation hearings -- if Ms. Miers gets that far -- should be a hoot.