"Borking Mr. Olson"

[in_cog_ni_to]

"the real Democratic game was given away by none other than Mr. Leahy, whose own "partisanship" is so raw he can't disguise it."

Leahy's partisanship????? These people are INSANE. The repukes wrote the book on Partisanship!

Now they're going to bully the Dems into confirming Ted Olson. Just watch.


Borking Mr. Olson
September 14, 2007; Page A12

Not content with having run Attorney General Alberto Gonzales out of town, the Democratic posse on Capitol Hill is already gunning for his replacement -- even before he's nominated. More preposterous still, they're disguising this pre-emptive borking as a plea for a "consensus" choice.


The breadth of this proposed condominium appears to be on the narrow side, however, running from Harry Reid to Pat Leahy, and perhaps stretching all the way to Chuck Schumer. Revealingly, this "consensus" doesn't seem to have room for Ted Olson, the former Solicitor General who is merely one of America's finest lawyers.

"Ted Olson will not be confirmed," declares Senate Majority Leader Reid. "He's a partisan, and the last thing we need as an Attorney General is a partisan." That standard could certainly stand some fleshing out. As "partisans" go, Mr. Olson doesn't come close to Bobby Kennedy, the brother of JFK; or Griffin Bell, close friend of Jimmy Carter (and a fine AG); or for that matter Janet Reno's Justice Department, which was run for years not by Ms. Reno but behind the scenes by close friend of Hillary Clinton and hyper-partisan Jamie Gorelick.

Is Mr. Reid saying that a Republican President can't nominate any Republican as Attorney General? Or does he mean that President Bush can only nominate a certain kind of Republican -- namely one who agrees with the Senate Democratic agenda, or short of that one who can be easily rolled?

That the latter is the real Democratic game was given away by none other than Mr. Leahy, whose own "partisanship" is so raw he can't disguise it. Number Two on Mr. Leahy's helpful "Checklist for Choosing the Next Attorney General" is this: "A proven track record of independence to ensure that he or she will act as an independent check on this Administration's expansive claims of virtually unlimited executive power."<snip>

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118972588955127061.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

[DS1]

1. First time I've seen him called "Mr."

Usually it's Ted.

They're dressing up a pig.

[cali]

2. Leahy's my Senator

and I've had the very great pleasure of meeting with him on more than one occasion. Yes, he's partisan- in the best of ways. And no he won't be bullied into confirming Olsen who, at any rate, is but a red herring.

Leahy has said repeatedly that until he gets requested subpoenaed material, he will NOT HOLD CONFIRMATION HEARINGS FOR ANY NOMINEE.

He doesn't say stuff like that, unless he means it.

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. Sweet. I hope he sticks to his guns! I'd love to never see a AG nominee

voted out of the committee. That may happen because I don't see the psycho releasing any material that's been subpoenaed.

You live in Vermont? I'm so jealous! What a Beautiful state!

[cali]

6. Thanks. I love my state

and I love the fact that even where I live, in the Northeast Kingdom, the "reddest" part of VT, Pat and Bernie win by a large margin. Even the red here is deep blue.

And I'm not sure now I feel about no AG. Paul Clement is pretty damn bad, and he's acting AG.

[Rick Myers]

3. Bork! Bork!! Bork!!!

Ted Olsen is Alberto Gonzo with more functional brain cells! The's a complete PARTISAN!!!

I can see his confirmation hearing getting quite heated...

[Justitia]

5. What a stupid article. And I fully expect our legislators to be "partisan".

Difference here is that the extreme extent of Olson's partisanship precludes him from being an acceptable AG.

[Dr.Phool]

7. If anybody ought to be Borked, it's Ted Olsen.

Put him under oath, and question him about the "Arkansas Project". And a lot of other things.

Then, call in David Brock (Media Matters) to testify against him. They spent a lot of time together back then.

[cali]

8. That would be delicious

but Leahy won't let him or anyone else get to a hearing.