WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House on Thursday dismissed the possibility that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers might withdraw if she encounters heavy fire in her Senate confirmation and suggested her nomination was becoming embroiled in "side issues like religion." Asked if there were any circumstances under which she would ask that her name be withdrawn, presidential spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters: "No one that knows her would make such a suggestion."
"And no one that knows her record and her qualifications would make such a suggestion," McClellan said.
Conservative critics have complained that Miers lacks a clear judicial philosophy and have questioned whether she is the best-qualified nominee, given that she has never been a judge and has little public record.
President Bush and White House officials have sought to reassure conservatives by emphasizing Miers' evangelical faith. "Part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion," Bush said on Wednesday.
Yet in a combative exchange with reporters, McClellan on Thursday said: "You all want to focus on side issues like religion."
"We've always talked about her record and her qualifications," McClellan said.
"And I think that we are doing a disservice for the American people when we focus on other issues and not her record and qualifications and experience, because that's what matters when you're on the nation's highest court," McClellan added.
Miers, 60, currently serves as White House counsel. She is a former Dallas corporate lawyer and was once Bush's personal lawyer.
