As you've probably noticed that I've said nothing about either the US Attorney scandal or the Walter Reed scandal. Suffice it to say, I wish that the USAs weren't fired for political reasons, and I wish that Iraq veterans had access to halfway sanitary medical facilities. But I'm not shocked, disappointed, or outraged. It's impossible to be in this political environment. The administration pulls stuff like this all the bloody time; it's far too exhausting to get worked up about all of it. We're in a place in which a surveillance program that clearly violates the fourth amendment elicited a response of "meh," from me, and the Lancet study showing that upwards of 600,000 Iraqis have been killed as a result of the war didn't phase me. It's a unhealthy state, but it's the status quo nowadays.
Anyway, my only comment of any interest on the USA scandal is to echo Orin Kerr and say that the post of AG, should Gonzales resign, as looks likely (then again, Rumsfeld's looked imminent after Abu Ghraib broke in April 2004 and he stayed until more than two years later), is Larry Thompson's for the taking. He's a former USA, a former deputy attorney general, he's been out of the administration for four years and thus has a certain outsider appeal, and he'd be the first black AG, which makes him hard for Democrats to oppose. He's by no means perfect (he authorized the torture of Maher Arar, for instance) but he's better than Gonzales, and I suppose that's all we can ask for.
Anyway, my only comment of any interest on the USA scandal is to echo Orin Kerr and say that the post of AG, should Gonzales resign, as looks likely (then again, Rumsfeld's looked imminent after Abu Ghraib broke in April 2004 and he stayed until more than two years later), is Larry Thompson's for the taking. He's a former USA, a former deputy attorney general, he's been out of the administration for four years and thus has a certain outsider appeal, and he'd be the first black AG, which makes him hard for Democrats to oppose. He's by no means perfect (he authorized the torture of Maher Arar, for instance) but he's better than Gonzales, and I suppose that's all we can ask for.
With a couple of impeachments & resignations we may end up with a black president even sooner in that case. This is starting to feel a lot like Nixon's last days.
Posted by: mike3k | March 17, 2007 at 12:36 AM
Well, if it's like Nixon's last days, Thompson won't become president - he and a lot of his subordinates will be fired for not doing the president's bidding.
Posted by: Minipundit | March 17, 2007 at 07:27 PM