Disagreeing With Ed And Betsy

Capt. Ed and Betsy agree with E.J. Dionne, Jr. that one can't chastise Dems for questioning John Roberts' faith, then turn around and appease conservatives by assuring them that Harriet Miers is OK because she's a conservative Christian.

Intimidating as the company is, Dionne excepted, I beg to disagree.

Senator Durbin wanted to open up questions about Roberts' religion as a door to his specific beliefs on abortion and right-to-life issues. He was equating the Pope's position to Roberts' position in order to probe how Roberts' would rule on specific issues.

He deserved to get knocked down for being so transparent in his quest for a statement of personal belief he wasn't going to get. Not because he brought up Catholicism (distasteful as he was in how he did it) but because he equated faith to a specific issue.

In contrast, the White House is merely letting wary supporters know that Miers is a Christian and that Christian principles will be something that guides her broad judicial philosophy.

If Durbin were to use this to pursue a line of questioning like, "Your church takes an anti-abortion position; does that mean you will vote against Roe?" he should be shot down again.

But if he asks "How will your faith as an evangelical guide your judicial philosphy?" that's in bounds, just as it would have been for a GOP Senator to ask Ginsburg how her longtime position on the anti-faith ACLU would guide her judicial philosphy.

Yes, it's a thin line, but a line it is.