“Sexist”?

You may have heard about this from the Today show already, but c’mon, this is ridiculous:

Asked whether the nominee’s detractors are sexist, Mrs. Bush, appearing alongside her husband, said, “That’s possible, I think that’s possible.” The statement echoed comments by presidential adviser Ed Gillespie, who last week suggested that conservatives who opposed Miss Miers are elitist and sexist.

Conservative activists expressed distress over the White House tactic of questioning their motives.

“I have heard people say it’s a slap in the face of conservatives, but the consensus — and certainly my view — is that it is sad and disappointing,” said Christopher C. Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

“We’ve seen the White House and now the president and the first lady repeating things that their lieutenants have said that are the fall-back arguments of the left — the questioning of conservatives’ motives when conservatives are, in fact, questioning the nominee’s qualifications,” Mr. Horner said.

Some critics of the nomination say Mr. Bush missed a chance to pick an experienced judge with conservative credentials.

“I don’t think it’s fair to call us sexist or elitist just because we ask the question, ‘Why did he choose her instead of so many better-qualified candidates?’ ” said Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs at the National Association of Evangelicals.

More than anything, of course, this shows how vacuous charges of “sexism” and “elitism” are as substitutes for thinking. But in this context, it is demonstrably absurd. I am fairly certain that had the President nominated Alice Batchelder of the 6th Circuit (Akron Law School) or Priscilla Owen of the 5th Circuit (Baylor Law School), not to mention Edith Jones or Janice Rodgers Brown then I suspect that we wouldn’t have to worry about the First Lady’s sensitivies being upset with the criticisms we have heard.

Does the White House really want to go down the track of arguing that just because its friends are skeptical about the merits of this nomination they are sexist and elitist?