Three out of three ain't good

From The Federalist, No. 76, by Alexander Hamilton, on senatorial confirmation of presidential nominees:

"[The President] would be both ashamed and afraid to bring forward, for the most distinguished or lucrative stations, candidates who had no other merit than that of [1] coming from the same State to which he particularly belonged, or of [2] being in some way or other personally allied to him, or of [3] possessing the necessary insignificance and pliancy to render them the obsequious instruments of his pleasure. "


Puritan pundits pull out their pliers,
Pinching the Prez over Harriet Miers,
Stunned that they've received no surety
Of her ideological purity.
Liberals of suspicious mind
Naturally, though, expect to find
Anyone Mr. Bush delivers
"Pure" enough to give them shivers.

And neither are greatly mollified
By finding her so unqualified.
Will any old lawyer suit that Court
Who knows how to serve a half-baked tort?

But the greatest objection to letting a crony in
Is that it's so patently un-Hamiltonian.
Will the whole Senate exclaim with defiance, "We
Shun insignificance! Veto pliancy!"
Or will Mr. Bush get to keep his treasure,
"Obsequious instrument of his pleasure?"

Poor Mr. Hamilton can't be blamed;
Who'd think of a leader who can't be shamed?