Just thinking out loud: Being close to someone does not always mean you will have the best, objective take on them as a person, character, etc. In fact, it can often cloud your judgments–because you like them you can excuse away their deficiencies, because you want them to succeed you can overestimate their capacities. All of this is possible, which is why it seems to me that “Bush knows her and trusts her” is such a thin reed on which to base an important nomination. Of course he knows and trusts her, but that doesn’t mean he’s right about what she’ll be like on the court. In fact, I imagine as much cronyism happens because officeholders and bureaucrats overestimate the capabilities of those close to them as happens because they deliberately want to put into a job someone they know isn’t qualified.