Here We Go

The ink on John Ashcroft’s resignation hasn’t even dried yet, so you would think the Deocrats would take a moment or two to reflect in quiet joy. I won’t even point out that it was their electoral hijinks that put him in the AG position, just to be friendly. You would think they would be pleased. But, of course, there is no time to waste in the jihad. The Washington Monthly is already regurgitating the slurs:

….that the “best” choice we have is the man who came up with the idea of calling Anita Hill “delusional” and who signed off on sending Maher Arar to Syria to be tortured says something shameful and frightening about this country.

Anita Hill probably wasn’t ‘delusional.’ She was LYING.

You would think the possible elevation of a well-qualified African-American to Attorney General for the first time in the nation’s history would be a cause for celebration. You would be wrong- there are some members of the left who will be unhappy with ANYTHING this administration does.

For some background on Larry Thompson from someone who actually knows something, you should check out this post from Jeralynn Merritt:

A reader asked my opinion of Larry Thompson in the comments to the post below about Ashcroft resigning. I went on so long, I figured I’d make it a separate post.

I think Larry Thompson would be an excellent choice–the best of all the names that have been suggested so far–by miles. Is he conservative? Yes. But anyone Bush picks is going to be conservative. Most prosecutors are that way.

Larry Thompson has been a defense attorney and when he was, he was as committed to his clients and their defense as any career defense attorney.

I’ve known him since he was a defense attorney, and I am not the only defense attorney to have such a high opinion of him. He was a much admired and respected member of the defense organizations I belong to.

I believe that if he takes the job, he will be fair and not trample constitutional rights.

I wish he wasn’t such a strong believer in the drug war, but again, no prosecutor is going to be great on defense issues. I don’t know his side of the Maher Arar story, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.

Jearlynn also has this post regarding Thompson’s current job with Pepsi.

Why do I post all of this, when Thompson probably doesn’t even want the job and hasn’t even been offered the position? Because I think it is important to watch how some on the left (In this case Kevin Drum and Jeanne) ramp up the attack dogs before they even know ANYTHING. Forget their nonsense about wanting to reach out- they are bitter, and want nothing but failure from this administration. Why else would they launch a pre-emptive strike on the character of someone who isn’t even a nominee?

FWIW, Roger Simon has some parting words on Ashcroft.