WASHINGTON -- Stunned by conservative opposition to Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, President Bush next week will bring in former judges from her home state of Texas to trumpet her qualifications for the nation's highest court.

The event is part of an administration effort to refine its push for Miers after its initial strategy failed to quiet vocal opposition from members of the president's own party.

The Republican critics say that if the White House strategy continues to amount to a ''trust me'' message, they'll continue to grumble.

Friday, press secretary Scott McClellan repeatedly used ''qualified'' and ''well-qualified'' to defend Miers and said she deserved a fair hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The White House has sought to dampen opposition from the GOP's right flank by noting that Miers attended an evangelical church in Texas that is almost universally anti-abortion. Earlier this week, the president spoke of how religion is part of her life.

This is what Bush should have been doing from the outset. Most right-leaning Americans care more about Miers' overall judicial qualifications than what her religious tendencies are and how she'd vote on a Roe vs. Wade style case. These people want another John Roberts. Someone who is dedicated to basing rulings on the text of the Constitution.

Miers may or may not be that person. If she is that person than President Bush has done a shoddy job of selling her as such.