Now that he’s a hero of the left maybe Bush will bring back Ashcroft.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/014227.php

Posted by Judge Smails on 27 August 2007 @ 10am

Hmm, I consider myself on the left, and my hero is NOT a guy who spends taxpayer money to put drapes around a semi-nude statue because he feels uncomfortable speaking in front of an exposed breast.

Posted by Cecil on 27 August 2007 @ 10am

Ashcroft is far from the lefts hero Smails, as the article you link to points out with the following:

This is, after all, the same Ashcroft who relentlessly pushed some of the most dangerous provisions of the Patriot Act, endorsed torture, made poor choices, showed bizarre priorities, suffered crushing defeats at the Supreme Court, issued highly dubious terrorist threat warnings, fought with Congress over documents to which lawmakers were legally entitled, and may have even fibbed in his testimony to the 9/11 Commission. And that’s not even including the “Spirit of Justice” incident.

What suprises us about him lately, is in the midst of the ’cause George said so’ mentality, he said NO when Gonzo and company tried to bum rush him in the hospital. Ashcroft starts to look sensible and reasonable in large part because his successor is such a joke.

Short of that he is still John “Statues Give Me A Semi” Ashcroft.

Posted by tim on 27 August 2007 @ 12pm

“Will he be a lobbyist, or a college professor, come March of ‘08?”

Or an indicted defendant? Or a prisoner? Or a parolee? So many choices.

Posted by spotter on 27 August 2007 @ 12pm

Does anyone here think that the Senate would actually confirm Chertoff as AG? I can’t believe that Bush is stupid enough to nominate him. This pretty well ensures that the nomination hearings will effectively turn into hearings on the administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina. Absolute idiocy. He should have gone for one of Ed Meese’s old deputies or something like that.

Posted by Jack on 27 August 2007 @ 2pm

http://waldo.jaquith.org/blog/2007/03/gonzales-will-resign/

Waldo,

Were any gambling sites offering good odds on your prediction?

Posted by Brian D on 27 August 2007 @ 2pm

I agree, Jack. There’s some speculation about Ted Olsen, but given that he’s on Guliani’s “Judicial Advisory Cmte,” he’s probably also on Rudy’s short-list for the S.Ct. should Rudy win the presidency and a vacancy occur. Why risk the brass ring of a possible S.Ct. seat on a hyper-partisan confirmation hearing and 18 month job?

My own hope is that Bush nominate Arlen Specter and, after he resigns from the Senate and breezes through the hearings, fire him the next day. ;)

Posted by Judge Smails on 27 August 2007 @ 2pm

JS,

Bruce Fein would be an excellent choice, as a former Reagan deputy AG. Oh wait, Fein is calling for Cheney’s impeachment. Hmmm, Arnold Burns would be a safe pick. You’d think that Fred Fielding would have slapped some sense into the WH about this kind of thing.

Posted by Jack on 27 August 2007 @ 5pm

Looks like the WH has already run away from the idea of nominating Chertoff. Smart move.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/28/AR2007082801670.html?hpid=topnews

Looks like Fred Fielding talking some sense into Bush. Now they are looking at a pretty sober bunch including some minor justice figures from the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. That is the smart way to go. Bush has no political capital to throw into a confirmation battle and anything involving people currently in his administration could potentially lead to hearings on his various failures that put ‘impeachment’ back into the daily vocabulary.

Posted by Jack on 29 August 2007 @ 10am