Some years ago, a good friend asked me to be the best man at his wedding. The problem was, I wasn't sure he was making the right decision, and several of our mutual friends had already expressed similar doubts to me in private. So I sat him down and told him the truth. What else could a true friend do? I asked him flat out whether he was marrying this girl mostly because he feared he was getting old, and thought that he might not find a better match.

It turns out that he had wondered the same thing about his own motivations, but hadn't been able to put his doubts into words. And once they had told everyone about the marriage, it didn't seem right to tell anyone that he wondered whether he'd made a mistake. So we drank some beer (his own home brew), talked it out, and by the end of the afternoon we both knew that his fiancee was the right girl for him. I was proud to be his best man, and they've been together for more than ten years.

When you think a friend is making a mistake, isn't it your duty to point it out? The old commercial says, "friends don't let friends drive drunk," but that's not the only tragedy that can be avoided by a friendly voice of reason. If I hadn't spoken up, my friend would have still gotten married, but he would have harbored doubts that might have come out and damaged their relationship the first time they had an argument that got emotional.

In the case of the Harriet Miers nomination, Conservatives who didn't blindly support President Bush's original decision are accused of being disloyal to, abandoning, even attacking the President. In fact, no such thing took place. Rather than playing the part of Kool-Aid drinking party apparatchiks, marching off a cliff unquestioningly like good little soldiers, many Conservatives spoke out, giving voice to their doubts about the President's pick. They asked for evidence that Ms. Miers was a good choice for Supreme Court instead of suppressing their doubts and accepting her without question. The rift occurred when it turned out that there was none to be found.

Most Democrats and not a few Republicans seem to be aghast at this blatantly "improper" use of free speech. I understand and expect the former, but the anger of the latter is somewhat ridiculous. "You elected him, now you must blindly accept everything he does," say the Democrats. Of course, they were mostly happy with Ms. Miers, who looked likely to be a moderate Conservative with gusts of Liberal activism on some issues. "How dare you lowly people question the decisions of the President?" ask the Republicans. "You'll damage the party's election prospects for 2006!"

I checked my copy of the Constitution, and -- unless my eyes are failing me -- it still begins "We, the People," not "We, the Party." Elected officials serve the people in a republic, not the other way around. We have questioned, and rightly, mistakes we felt were made on border control, illegal immigration amnesty, pork barrel spending, Medicare entitlements and steel tariffs, among others. It's our right, and more, our duty to do so. The difference is that Congress could easily correct those mistakes under public pressure. A Supreme Court Justice is appointed for life.

So we pointed out the mistake, and the nomination was withdrawn. That news alone will bring Bush's support roaring back. The fact that he did listen to the people who put him into office destroys the Liberal meme of the aloof, out-of-touch President who stubbornly follows his own path no matter what. Obviously, President Bush listens to those who have constructive criticism to offer -- he just ignores Liberal nay-saying and whining, as should we all.

Taking a Mulligan -- a golf term for "undoing" a poor shot -- on Harriet Miers gives President Bush an opportunity to launch a public relations offensive with his base solidly behind him. The economy is expanding at a strong rate of 3.8 percent, the Iraqi people have approved a democratic constitution and will be holding an election in December, and a series of public trials for Saddam Hussein's brutal crimes are soon to begin. Now, if the President nominates a strong originalist like Sam Alito, Janice Rogers Brown, Michael Luttig or Edith Hollan Jones, we can finally have that national conversation about judicial activism and tyranny the Left has been dreading for decades.