I'm trying to come up with clever suggestions for people Bush could nominate to be the new AG who could expect swift confirmations. Jim Comey seems like a solid choice. Alternatively, Olympia Snow, Arlen Spector or, more generally, any Republican Senator representing a state with a Democratic governor. Any other ideas? Counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke?
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New AG
27 Aug 2007 01:28 pm
Comments (67)
Why does he need a swift confirmation. What remaining bits of policy need to be carried out at DoJ? Isn't the entire role of the head of the DoJ to keep a lid on any potential investigation into White House wrongdoing?
Patrick Fitzgerald
That Patrick Fitzgerald fellow seems like a Republican capable of maintaining the independence that Justice needs.
D'oh!
Spike got it in first because I typed a whole sentence.
Any other ideas? Counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke?
Hall of Famer, Rod Carew...
Kidding, but would still be a huge improvment over Gonzales.
Since we're in the realm of Republicans here - and only hopefully for a short time, I could live with Viet Dinh.
At least he can back up his positions without lying through his teeth.
Just goes to show what a perfect candidate Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald is.
The Sheriff from Hazard County, AL.
Fred Thompson. Is a lawyer, but more importantly knows how to play one on TV.
Bush would have to find someone who goes along with the various novel constitutional doctrines that have been advanced in the past few years. This is probably why Chertoff is the main candidate.
Bush would have to find someone who goes along with the various novel constitutional doctrines that have been advanced in the past few years.
True, but the "Democratic Congress" is not, I believe, eligible for the nomination.
SoCalJustice:
You can't be serious. he worked previously for The Decider. I'll take Comey or Fitz. We don't need Skeletor as AG.
Ron Jeremy.
The Hedgehog would immediately increase the dignity and intellectual standing of the administration.
And Cheney would no longer be the most prominent Dick at Cabinet meetings.
C'mon guys, there's no need to limit ourselves to Republicans. I'm sure the bipartisanship-loving pundits will all be clamoring for a Democrat in the AG seat. You know, to heal our national divisions and shit.
George Herbert Walker Bush.
Joe Lieberman
A real lawyer who takes the constitution seriously would be nice. There are plenty of dignified Supreme Court castoff's about. Alice Batchelder? Harvie Wilkenson? Michael McConnell? Michael Luttig? Ken Starr... Now Ken Starr would be hilarious.
Joe Klein's conscience,
Comey worked for Ashcroft/Bush - as did Fitzgerald.
We're not going to get someone who hasn't.
Because of Plamegate, Fitzgerald is lower on the list than Rod Carew.
One person who may be on it, though, is Fitzgerald's former colleague, and Matt's occassional whipping boy, the other Andrew McCarthy.
Michael Vick.
Harriet Miers will be the actual nominee.
Janice Rogers Brown.
Appoint Dick Cheney as AJ who then resigns from the Vice Presidency. Dubya then appoints Guiliani as Vice President, thus giving him a leg up on his Rethuglican rivals.
I think SecDef Gates provides a decent template, namely, a lifelong Republican who is (a) not a current or former member of the Adminstration, (b) is not a lobbyest or paid Republican hack, and (c) has not been overly political in the last six years. Preferably the right person is in the private sector...or is a sitting federal judge.
Comey is off the list because he is current DOJ. First and foremost, Dems should insist that the new AG come from outside the Administration.
Ramsey Clark
Zombie Reagan?
Ted Nugent!!! Suck on this!!!
Hugh Hewitt?
Glenn Reynolds?
Pauly Shore?
Nifong
True, but the "Democratic Congress" is not, I believe, eligible for the nomination.
This comment clearly won the thread.
Another vote for Ramsey Clark. Who doesn't think the ANSWER coalition's influence in American politics needs to be aggrandized?
It doesn't matter who gets nominated.
Spector, who currently is taking credit for helping to run AG AG out of town, will make some statement about being pleased that the Bush admin is finally heading in the right direction with their nominee. Any attempts to oppose the nominee will be derided as just playing politics (as if that's a bad thing -- sheeze, don't they make people read Federalist #51 anymore about "ambition [being] made to counteract ambition"? ... and as if the GOP never opposed, e.g., any of Clinton's nominees) and "why are the Democrats not working with Bush & CO to ensure that the DOJ has someone at the helm in this time of great danger and lawlessness" (as if anyone can work with G.W. "anyone who's not with me is against me" Bush).
And any attempts to further investigate DOJ issues will be met with "the Dems. already drove poor AG AG out -- isn't that enough? now that the few bad apples are out, isn't the problem over? why are the Dems. showing irrational hatred of Bush & friends by pursuing this further?".
It's all lather-rinse-repeat at this point ...
It will be John Yoo in a recess appointment . . .
Nancy Grace
Hillary Clinton - why not? She feeds at the same troughs as BushCo.
I actually respect and like my Senator Spector --even though I have a strong reason not too.
There's a lot more to the Senator than meets the eye.
But Arlen Spector's overall health can't be the best -- he's already suffered from radioactive treatments for brain cancer (years ago) and chemotherapy for Hodgkin's disease cancer (more recently). His bitchslapping of Gonzales into retirement says more about strength of will than of body.
Plus I'm not sure we want as Attorney General the man who crafted the "magic bullet theory" to explain why there was only one assassin shooting at Democratic President John Kennedy -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arlen_Spector#Early_life_and_career versus Howard Hunt's death bed memoir "American Spy".
I recall Orrin Hatch said he wanted the job a few months ago--I wouldn't have a problem with that. Chertoff was the real villain of Katrina, if you recall, and I'm not wild about him getting his hands on the levers of justice.
Here's the real nightmare scenario, though: Rudy Giuliani.
Anyone see the recent film "The Shootist"? Recall the elderly gun guru in the backwoods of Tennessee that was consulted by Marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger and his FBI Buddy??
---------
"Gun Guru: Oh, that guy's already dead. First rule of political assassinations -- always kill the shooter. That breaks the trail back to the conspirators. Those boys on the grassy knoll were buried in the desert 3 hours after Kennedy was shot.
Skeptical FBI Agent: I don't suppose you have any personal knowledge of those events, do you sir?
Gun Guru: Hell, yes. I still got the shovel."
By the way, it's spelled Specter, not Spector. And Snowe, not Snow.
"Chertoff was the real villain of Katrina"
The real villain of Katrina was the dysfunctional, helpless, black New Orleans culture. Who makes no effort to leave town when you have FIVE DAYS NOTICE that the storm of the century is headed for you? Even if you had no money, you could have WALKED to safety in that time.
Of course, if Mayor Nagin made the city's hundreds of school buses available for evacuation, they could have ridden in those.
Bush appoints Rudy who announces he will wind down campaign. Bush tells Rudy that Cheney will resign within 6 months for undisclosed health reasons. Bush then appoints Rudy, who gets alot of press and media exposure for promises and work to clean up Justice, and testifies with various committees on tv and appologizes on behalf of administration for politicizing Justice Dept. Gonzales and Rove gone. A new era. Rudy reinvents himself as the tough clean up guy (he cleaned up NYC, he is cleaning up Justice), loses the dirty associations of Bernard Kerik (old news, look what he is doing now, look at his new image) but keeps the image of the tough leader who led us through 9/11 and will be tough on the Islamo-Fascists, can do the same on domestic issues as he is showing now. Cheney resignes effective 12/31/07 and within a week Rudy is appointed VP and within the week announces his intention to reactivate his campaign.
Why do I think that Rove has been meeting with Roger Ailes and others to hatch this scheme.
Hatch would be a brilliant choice by Bush, since he would carry on most of Gonzo's dirty work...and would be easily confirmed since he is a member of the Senator Club, and is therefore immune from serious questions about his integrity, qualifications, independence, etc.
Of course, nominating a member of the Senator Club is not without its risks.
Part of Gonzo's job was to deliberately insult the intelligence of senators on a weekly basis. Even an Administation apologist like Hatch might have trouble mustering up the kind of blatant and intentional disrespect for his former colleagues that is required by the job.
Who makes no effort to leave town when you have FIVE DAYS NOTICE that the storm of the century is headed for you?
a) how do you do that without a car?
b) even three days out, the average error in path prediction is 200 miles
Fitz!
Sadly, even the Dems would be worried about confirming him. Too straight, and I don't mean, "not gay."
Joe Lieberman.
Jim,
When I first heard the news about AG AG resigning and the talk of "who would replace AG?", I immediately thought -- well, it would be strategic for them to nominate former prosecutor and Mr. 9/11 (and I use that last term sarcastically), Rudy Giuliani. I was wondering though -- as much as that platform would help him push his image, it'd kill his presidential bid by not giving him enough time to campaign.
But, alas, it seems that it would be possible. I am afraid you might be right, Jim. Oy gevalt. Talk about a coup.
Also, if it's perceived that there is no hope for the GOP candidate in 2008, it would be good to have an excuse for Rudy not winning -- he was too busy being AG. There is no way whichever Dem might then win in 2008 could fix the huge mess that Bush & CO are leaving. So Rudy could then campaign as "not Bush" but also a fixer-upper who can solve the "Democratic mess".
If Rove is the genius he's cracked up to be, I think Jim has hit on what the fix is.
Now the real question is given that, e.g., Jim has seen this possibility, how come the Dem "strategists" (and we can bet they do not see the possibility) who are getting paid the big bucks to prepare for stunts like this are going to be woefully unprepared to deal with a stunt like this?
Recess appointment of Karl Rove. That way, there'd
be no more need for incriminating communications
between the WH political office and DoJ ...
Rick Santorum
?? suggests: "Rick Santorum"
Aw, no. It took so long to get the santorum stain out the last time.
Forget about it! It'll be Jeb Bush.
You can just hear them now - "If it's OK for the Kennedy's . . ."
I assume you're engaging in snark here. You can't possibly be serious in thinking that Bush will nominate someone who would be easily confirmed. Such a person might actually prioritize running a clean and effective DOJ over protecting Bush from his misdeeds, and that can't be allowed to happen, as I'm sure you know. I'm betting on either a hack like Chertoff (sp?) or a pro-king lunatic like John Yoo in a recess appointment. It'll be John Bolton all over again.
Judge Judy
Ahmed Chalabi, Lynne Cheney, or Gitmo Geoff Miller.
Posted by Bill in Chicago | August 27, 2007 3:55 PM
Bush might or might not want to nominate Jeb, but I am positive that there is a law against it, precisely because of John Kennedy appointing Bobby as AG.
The noodle eating poodle: Tony Blair.
"a) how do you do that without a car?"
If you can't spare some of your malt liquor money to buy a bus ticket, you WALK. In five days you can walk all the way from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.
"b) even three days out, the average error in path prediction is 200 miles"
Why take a chance? Particularly when you live BELOW SEA LEVEL? Here's a thought experiment for you: You have no money. You live in an area below sea level and prone to floods. You find out that a Category 5 hurricane is headed for you and could be there in 5 days. Would you do nothing, or would you try to get out, even if that meant walking or hitching a ride with a group of neighbors?
Some people truly are evil (cf. Harry — is he campaigning for AG?).
If you can't spare some of your malt liquor money to buy a bus ticket
and that's the end of that.
a) how do you do that without a car?
b) even three days out, the average error in path prediction is 200 miles - cleek
Oh (re: 'a') but Harry apparently figures that in 5 days you can walk so far as to be out of that 200 mile radius of prediction -- I guess walking 40 miles a day, carrying enough belongings to tide you over (remember, Harry, you wouldn't have money to spend on the way being so poor ... no passing go, no collecting $200), is something anyone can do, right?
Also, even if they all drove out or what have you -- would that have been the best idea? You do remember what happened with Rita and Houston, don't you, Harry?
Were people like Harry any more palatable when they blamed everything on "stupid niggers" as opposed to beating around the bush with references to "dysfunctional, helpless, black New Orleans culture"? I tend to sympathize with some of my Southern friends who say, "Hey, at least OUR racists are up-front about it."
In point of fact, I have a good friend - a bright, college-educated, white woman - who lost most of her possessions in Katrina. I said, "When they told you to evacuate, and you drove off, how could you at least not toss your computer and the other expensive stuff in the car with you?" She shrugged. "They always say the 'big one' is coming, I assumed this one would also be no big deal and I'd just head home afterwards."
For better or for worse, this is how a lot of normal people behave. The idea that poor families were supposed to bundle a child onto each hip and see how far they could walk in the direction of Shreveport in 5 days is just so laughable.
I expect John Cornyn to get the nod. Why? He's really stupid and reliably hackish, but he gets a free pass from his Senate pals.
Even an Administation apologist like Hatch might have trouble mustering up the kind of blatant and intentional disrespect for his former colleagues that is required by the job.
Oh, Cornyn would, since he already thinks he's smarter than his colleagues, even while being really fucking stupid.
That also allows Perry to appoint a new GOP Senator to fight the special election and the 2008 general.
Would you back Natalie Portman, Matt?
Might get her off your back.
And she has the requisite Israel-supporting credentials - and she studied under Dershowitz!
Oh, wait, that would be for Secretary of State, not Attorney General.
My bad.
Black government incompetence and black residents acting like complete helpless parasites unable to do anything for themselves, or acting like undisciplined animals was the unsaid NOLA problem.
Even if FEMA had worked better, even if Blanco had changed the diapers for NOLA underclass herself, it still would have been an embarassing 3rd World disgrace.
Worse than 3rd World, actually. Earlier in the same year almost all of Mumbai, India was flooded by 6-8 feet of water. 1200 people died. Help from the Federal Gov't of India was non-existent. Unlike NOLA with its 400,000 and declining population, Mumbai has 11 million, many desperately poor.
During the floods, people and NBA celebrities did not hand out 200 dollar sneakers and 1,000 dollar debit cards to make Indians "feel better". Mumbai residents were not put in 1,000 buck a week hotels, cruise ships, or 100,000 dollar (almost half trashed into unusability) FEMA home-trailers. They handed out spare bread and rice, pitched in together to clean the mud and bodies up.
During the Mumbai disaster, there were 14 recorded crimes, 6 of which were car radios stolen out of abandoned cars...
3rd World Mumbai residents proved themselves more civilized than NOLA blacks. Their government resource-constrained but lacking the fecklessness of Nagin and his well-paid city employees.
And the behavior of Japanese when Kobe was wrecked by a major earthquake?
Not one instance of looting. Even when roads, rails were so wrecked it took the Japanese 2 weeks to begin meaningful aid to the Prefecture. And the Japanese mostly gave thanks to all that arrived to help...And there was not a single instance of Japanese wrecking a temporary trailer assigned to a family while Kobe housing was rebuilt.
It's a sad thing to say about blacks in the underclass and no one wishes it was true, but they are one blackout, one flood, one hurricane away from acting like jungle savages only deterred by armed homeowners, businesses, or national guard troops. I wish the story was different, and note that civilized American blacks who have nothing to do with ghetto scum have behaved quite similarly to their white peers in other hurricanes...
Gee Matt, It's really two things:
1) Bush wants to nominate someone who can be confirmed by the Senate
2) while at the same time won't launch an investigation into Criminal conduct in the White House.
I got nuthin' how 'bout you?
Katherine Harris
DAS:
"but Harry apparently figures that in 5 days you can walk so far as to be out of that 200 mile radius of prediction"
No, but in five days you can walk to the next major city which wouldn't be anywhere near as vulnerable to hurricane flooding as New Orleans. Even if the hurricane hit Baton Rouge, you would have been better off there than below sea level in the 9th Ward of New Orleans.
Steve:
Sorry for not using the n-word. As for your comment about your "good friend - a bright, college-educated, white woman":
"I said, "When they told you to evacuate, and you drove off..."
I am not sure how this is supposed to refute my point about the helplessness and dysfunction of black New Orleans culture. Your white friend was told to evacuate and did; you're right, "this is how normal people behave" (even if your friend left behind some expensive possessions). The point is this isn't how New Orleans blacks, for the most part, behaved. Most of them sat in New Orleans and did nothing, even though they had several days warning of a storm-of-the-century heading their way.
Our friend Steve Sailer was one of the few commentators to point out the underlying problems in New Orleans with his essay "Racial Reality and the New Orleans Nightmare"
Too many constructive suggestions for what was supposed to be a silly thread! Mike Nifong, ramsey Clark, and Nancy Grace do it for me. Larry Craig is available. Tony Blair could probably get some kind of emergency certification from the Bar. But in the end I have to go with Ted Nugent--
Comments closed September 10, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
How about former Solicitor General (and widower of 9/11 victim) Ted Olsen?
Posted by Fred | August 27, 2007 1:36 PM