I haven't been one those people who is obsessing over President Bush's nominee to the Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, mainly because there's been next to nothing to comment on. The vast majority of the reporting has been horserace articles on who opposes her, who supports her, but there's been very little about Miers herself.

Even Chief Justice John Roberts had more of a paper trail, as scant as it was, than Miers does. This doesn't mean I think she's qualified or unqualified -- it simply means that I don't know. So, count me as one of the fence-sitters.

Having staked out that middle ground, let me say that the way the White House has promoted her nomination has been a public relations debacle. Her supporters have so little to use to actually support her, and her detractors use the absence of information to tear her down.

I've also found President Bush and his surrogates' use of Miers evangelical Christianity as a selling point as particularly distasteful [last item].

"What did Karl Rove say to me that I knew on Monday that I couldn't reveal? Well, it's what we all know now, that Harriet Miers is an Evangelical Christian, that she is from a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life . . . "

--James Dobson, Oct. 12

"People ask me why I picked Harriet Miers. They want to know Harriet Miers's background; they want to know as much as they possibly can before they form opinions. And part of Harriet Miers's life is her religion."

--President George W. Bush, Oct. 12

"Well, some of you all wanted to focus more on religion. We focused on her qualifications and record."

--White House spokesman Scott McClellan to reporters, Oct. 13

Religious belief is only important as far as it is indicative of the nominee's character, it says next to nothing about one's judicial qualifications.