When Meg Whitman recently attacked Jerry Brown for his appointment of Rose Bird as California's chief justice 33 years ago, some pundits dismissed it as a tired story.

Politically, they're probably right. But even Brown loyalists have conceded that the Bird appointment was a huge blunder. It's one the judiciary is still paying for.

Nearly 11 years after her death from cancer, it's impossible to mention Bird without encountering arguments that she was a symbol in the drive for women's equality -- a brave fighter for justice who was hounded from office.

Yet she failed for reasons other than sexism. To serve her principles, she was intellectually dishonest and insensitive to politics, an ideologue who betrayed contempt for the judicial structure. And Brown was amply warned of her shortcomings.

Brown's legal affairs secretary, J. Anthony Kline, conceded in a 1991 oral history that "in retrospect, the appointment of Rose Bird as chief justice was probably the biggest mistake that Jerry Brown made as governor.''

In 64 out of 64 cases, Bird voted against the death penalty. No matter what you think of capital punishment -- and I'm against it -- it beggars belief to think each of those carefully litigated cases was unfounded.