PBS Host Tavis Smiley Tells John Edwards Dems Aren't Seen as 'Terribly Vigorous'

On his nightly PBS talk show Monday, Tavis Smiley questioned John Edwards about the Harriet Miers nomination. Oddly enough, Edwards, who presumed he was ready to be President of the United States after being in the Senate about the same amount of time Miers was in the White House, suggested the big Miers issue was her lack of experience:

"I mean, the first question about her, of course, is that she has no record. Never been a judge, has no judicial experience. And that is certainly not disqualifying by itself, but what it means is that we don't know much about what her positions are. She has never written an opinion."

When Edwards said Senate Democrats will have to question her with vigor, Smiley wondered: "How vigorous do you expect them to be? There are some who would argue that they weren't terribly vigorous on Mr. Roberts, now the Chief Justice. And the Democrats split voting for the guy." Didn't they know they were supposed to vote 44 to 0 against?

PS: Speaking of public broadcasting, the CPB-funded Pacifica Radio network's "Democracy Now" show on Tuesday displayed how radio radicals aren't very clued in to the conservative movement, and who's part of it, and who's not. Take this question from Pacifica anchor Amy Goodman: "I wanted to ask what you think of other conservatives' comments. DAVID GERGEN said he was startled." Gergen's a conservative?