Saint Harriet of Washington, D. C.: She Walked Among Us and We Knew Her Not.

She made well over $500,000 a year as managing partner of a top Dallas law firm but her net worth is about $700,000 according to her disclosure report. Where did Harrier Miers’ money go? Largely to her church to which she did far more than tithe says the Wall Street Journal and taking care of her aged mother. She also signed a pledge for Texas Right to Life supporting a federal constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade, vowed to oppose as a Dallas councilman any public money for abortions. In short, she’s exactly what President Bush said she is: a known quantity on the single-most issue of concern to social conservatives. It ratifies all along that Bush is a plain-spoken man who means what he says: taking blame for New Orleans, taking on the big jobs—transforming Iraq into a democracy, taking the heat for appointing a woman who may well be a female reincarnation of Francis of Assisi (she may indeed bear the imprint of a stigmata before confirmation is over).

At age 60, she looks older than her age, befitting one who’s worked 18-hours a day in private and public jobs. I must say as a bit of a social conservative activist myself, I am turning into a pinwheel of contradictions about her: starting off as one who groaned but accepted her, then one who steadfastly opposed her because we could do better, now ready to say that I’d vote for her with mixed joy and apprehension—joy because she’s every bit the ex-Catholic but evangelical nun who will not be moved by more powerful intellects… some apprehension because what we now know about her views is sure to win her furious opposition. Now as the liberals mount their fury against her, let the battle begin. And nobody tell me that Bush is scared of a fight: he proved he’s not when he named her.