Could the Democrats be this Machiavellian?

There was a fair amount of criticism (alright, flat out screaming!) about Democratic Senators who approved the nomination of Harriet Miers. Is it turning out they knew something Bush didn't?

"She needs more than murder boards," Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said in an interview, referring to the mock question-and-answer sessions most nominees use to prepare for their confirmation hearings. "She needs a crash course in constitutional law."

I'm still of the school that says the Democrats realized Miers was a much less controversial pick than any Bush could make, at least as controversy would rally Bush's base.

And I'm sure they couldn't have foreseen this. But between the radical right, who distrust Miers, and people like Specter, who don't really want to back her badly enough to put another Clarence Thomas on the bench, well...

Granted, Specter clarifies his concerns at the bottom of the article; but still, it's damning with faint praise to say a nominee to the Supreme Court needs to come up to speed on Constitutional law. The Democrats couldn't have done better had they made the selection themselves. More and more, in fact, it looks like they did.