I think Arlen Specter is close to the kook line. Of all the criticism of the Miers nomination (and much of it justified), “backroom deals” would seem to be the most absurd. And Specter seems to think that testing Miers’s ability to understand weighty constitutional issues turns on whether she concurs with his view of abortion. There’s nothing weighty about Specter’s view of abortion or his favorite decision, Roe v. Wade.