Mukasey Musings

The Mukasey AG nomination that once looked like a slam dunk has started to look more like a Shaq free throw. If he survives the Senate Judiciary Committee, it will be thanks only to the personal loyalty of Chuck Schumer, and I can't imagine that gives either man much comfort.

I've got very mixed feelings on this. Although I badly desire the Dems in Congress to start showing some backbone, I wouldn't have picked this issue for the respinification. There are no better candidates waiting in the wings. None even close. Odds are that Bush next goes with his instincts and nominates a true blight on the human species, some shameless partisan hack who would, given his druthers, annoint Bush "emperor for life" while leading a demo seminar on nutsack shocking. Ted Olson is probably waiting by his phone. The acting AG is supposedly just as bad. So the consequence of nixing Mike McGoo will be that Justice remains a lawless and obstinant wreck until at least 2009. After which, things will only get better if HRC has pulled off an electoral miracle.

Mukasey made his own bed. By refusing to condemn waterboarding, and by claiming that the Pres could ignore inconvenient laws, he showed that he was more loyal to Bush than to the Constitution. That's really the Republican dilemma for you. Are there GOPers left alive who would have made the opposite choice? Does the Dem standard for approval effectively mean that any nominee would have to offer legal positions that, while accurate, would also mandate prosecutions of Gonzo, Cheney, and their assorted sycophants? I think so. And I'd approve of that--if it didn't allow Bush to play a four-corners defense and run out the clock.