Joe Conason: Will Bush dare to nominate Ted Olson as attorney general?

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/09/14/ted_olson/index_np.html

Will Bush dare to nominate Ted Olson as attorney general?

The infamous lawyer knows how to keep troublesome information hidden, and what better way for the president to taunt his detractors.

By Joe Conason


U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (L) talks to former Solicitor General Ted Olson before U.S. President George W. Bush makes remarks on terrorism in the East Room of the White House in Washington, September 6, 2006.

Should George W. Bush want to prove yet again that he is more pugnacious than presidential, then his choice for a new attorney general could not be more obvious. He will go ahead and nominate the man whose name the White House has floated for the past several weeks, and he will relish the inevitable bloody conflict when Theodore B. Olson, the legal éminence grise of right-wing Washington, seeks confirmation in the U.S. Senate.

Bush likely believes that there is nobody more qualified for the highest law enforcement office in the land than Ted Olson -- and if the standard of conduct is the departing attorney general, Alberto "Fredo" Gonzales, then he could be right.

Should George W. Bush want to prove yet again that he is more pugnacious than presidential, then his choice for a new attorney general could not be more obvious. He will go ahead and nominate the man whose name the White House has floated for the past several weeks, and he will relish the inevitable bloody conflict when Theodore B. Olson, the legal éminence grise of right-wing Washington, seeks confirmation in the U.S. Senate.

Bush likely believes that there is nobody more qualified for the highest law enforcement office in the land than Ted Olson -- and if the standard of conduct is the departing attorney general, Alberto "Fredo" Gonzales, then he could be right.

more...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/09/14/ted_olson/

[cali]

1. No. He won't nominate Olsen

Floating his name is classic bushie bait and switch.

[babylonsister]

2. Unless he does just to witness the ensuing, time-consuming fight. nt

[cali]

5. Sure, that's a possibility

but it'll be rather a strange fight, as Leahy won't bring him up for confirmation.

[Cruzan]

3. Sure he will.

The democrats will scream in outrage and then he'll be confirmed anyway.

[cali]

10. Wrong. If you were closely following this story

you'd know that Leahy has said repeatedly, as recently as Wednesday, no requested subpoenaed information, no confirmation hearing- for ANY nominee. Does he mean it? I guarantee you, he does.

[lutefisk]

13. Leahy might mean it, but will he hold his ground?

I can't think of any confrontations or stand-offs with the Bush crime family in which the Democrats stood their ground to the end. It seems there is always a compromise, political consideration, or just plain and simple public humiliation as the Bush WH gloats over the Democrats' weakness.

[cali]

14. Yes. He will.

And if you can't think of anything in which he's stood up to the bush admin, you're not looking. He refused all of bush's putrid offers regarding testimony from Miers and others. He's issued subpoenas for Rove and others. He held no hold bars hearings.

Leahy is my Senator. I'm more than a little familiar with him. He just doesn't say something and then backtrack. If he's not going to do something, he keeps his mouth shut.

[SoCalDem]

4. In a HEARTBEAT!

A passive-aggressive sociopath like *²/stupid³ LIVES for this sort of thing.

He may just do it, to force the dems to fight him in public...then he can send the minions out to blatherty-blab about how obstructionist they are:grr:

[KharmaTrain]

8. Spot On

Watch them roll out tapes of his late wife (was that number 2, 3 or 4??)...(a real wench) and play for the pitty, wrapped up in 9/11 and sold as Olson should be nominated cause he's a victim of Al Queda. In the past I would have written this with a :sarcasm: next to it...but not with this feckless regime.

From all the names I've seen thrown out, it's pick your poison. Personally, we've had a dysfunctional DOJ all year...what's gonna be the difference if it lasts another 18 months...at least then there won't be any more voter roll purges or good DAs forced out by political toadies.

[CurtEastPoint]

6. I think it will be Larry Thompson. n/t

[Bitwit1234]

7. This arrogant little pimple on a turd, would do anything

If he thought it would cause a controversy he would in a second. He thinks he can do anything the wants, and throws a tantrum if he gets stopped in any way.

[spanone]

9. yes, he was ready to bring bernie kerik into the administration

[L. Coyote]

11. Olson should be a target of the USA firings investigations.

If only Bush would nominate Olson, hence opening a huge can of worms to further investigation and inquiry! The Arkansas Project involved crimes. And Olson is prt of the SA firngs scandal already:

(Print link has the whole article: http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/09/14/ted_olson/print.html)
--------------------
".... Olson too has a long history of delivering misleading testimony, dating back to his years as an assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration in the early '80s.

"Back then, Olson participated in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing in the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund program ....

"..... his role in the Arkansas Project, a scheme born during a meeting of Clinton-hating conservatives at his Washington law office in late 1993, he denied any participation -- at first. But there was no dearth of proof to the contrary, including testimony from former Spectator reporter David Brock and an Arkansas Project financial ledger showing $14,000 in payments to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Olson's law firm. ....."
--------------------

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is the very law firm that paid USA Debra Wong Yang, the U.S. Attorney investigating G.O.P. Congressman Jerry Lewis, a $1.5 million signing bonus to become a partner while the firm was defending Rep. Lewis. You can't make this stuff up!

The U.S. Attorney, the G.O.P. Congressman and the Timely Job Offer
By ADAM COHEN - May 4, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04fri4.html?ex=1335931200&en=9697872f8b81f953&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss


There is yet another United States attorney whose abrupt departure from office is raising questions: Debra Wong Yang of Los Angeles. Ms. Yang was not fired, as eight other prosecutors were, but she resigned under circumstances that raise serious questions, starting with whether she was pushed out to disrupt her investigation of one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress.

... the riskiest job in the Bush administration is being a prosecutor investigating a Republican member of Congress. Carol Lam, the United States attorney in San Diego, was fired after she put Randy Cunningham, known as Duke, in prison. Paul Charlton, in Arizona, was dismissed while he was investigating Rick Renzi. Dan Bogden, in Nevada, was fired while he was reportedly investigating Jim Gibbons, a congressman who was elected governor last year.

....

Ms. Yang says she left for personal reasons, but there is growing evidence that the White House was intent on removing her. Kyle Sampson, the Justice Department staff member in charge of the firings, told investigators last month in still-secret testimony that Harriet Miers, .......

The new job that Ms. Yang landed raised more red flags. Press reports say she got a $1.5 million signing bonus to become a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a firm with strong Republican ties. She was hired to be co-leader of the Crisis Management Practice Group with Theodore Olson, who was President Bush’s solicitor general and his Supreme Court lawyer in Bush v. Gore. Gibson, Dunn was defending Mr. Lewis in Ms. Yang’s investigation.

...............

MORE: FULL STALL JUSTICE: Rep. Jerry Lewis Probe Rolls Backwards "prosecutor ... forced into retirement"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1754656

[Wiregrass Willie]

12. How can the Senate refuse to confirm Olsen ?

His wife died in that plane that hit the Pentagon on 9-11. He would be hard to defeat.

[cali]

15. No he wouldn't .

He'd be one of the easiest people to defeat that bush could nominate.

[Wiregrass Willie]

16. I hope you are right, but ..

I figure that the news media will show pictures of 9-11 and the Pentagon collapsing. Fox News will hold several daily memorials and cover the confirmation hearings all day. The bands will play and the flag will flap in the breeze. How can a Senator vote to reject the husband of a woman who gave her life for her country ? And us at war with the people who killed her ! Where is the Patriotism ?

I'm being sarcastic, of course. But that is how it will be spun.