Not anywhere near the amount of firework I want to see in the Senate AG confirmation. Besides, he's better suited for other things (Homeland Security).

Viet D. Dinh is a better choice, and he's already pissed off ACLU.

Yeah, its not high profile enough.

Yeah, Dinh is good, but he's already Liberal Enemy No. One.

I see him at Homeland Security as well. More high profile. Also he is alot of years out of the heavy lifting of law enforcement. I know if he wanted on SCOTUS he would be a shoo in, but I think he is more interested in something public.

I say he goes Homeland Security or something similar. Aren't they talking about some sort of National Security Overlord. That person doesn't have to necessarily be a FBI/CIA/NSA type. He just need to be a ball buster and that strikes me as a high profile job he might like.

While his pro-abortion stance doesn't thrill me, it wouldn't really be an issue in either the AG or HLS offices.

It will, however, be an absolute bar to his ever winning the presidency unless he revises his position.

How is Giuliani on gun ownership? Ashcroft was great for that. I fear that Giuliani would prefer the State have all the guns--but I hope I'm wrong.

Ted Olson would be a great choice for AG. I mean, if you want someone with War on Terror credibility...you don't get no better than a Sept. 11 widower. Plus, I think he's a super nice guy.

OTOH, if pissing off the ACLU is a good criteria for AG appointments--and I think it's right up there--John Yoo from Berkeley's our guy. (Yes, Berkeley's sole conservative. The man has some guts.)

Howzabout Gulie for SecState?

I want John "Two tone" Bolton for Sec State. Kim Jong Il's sphincter will tighten up when that happens. He hates that guy.

My predictions for leavers- Ashcroft, Powell, Ridge. Outside chance of Rusmfeld.

Replacement canidates- Giuliani for Homeland, maybe AG

McCain (don't you wonder why he joined the campaign so hard? He's a self promoter first and foremost) for Sec Def or Sec State

Others, I don't know.

jeb bush has publically ruled out running in 2008 several times, or so i recall...

jeb bush has publically ruled out running in 2008 several times, or so i recall...

So has Hillary.

So do most politicians, to be fair. There are a lot of reasons for doing so, and it's not necessarily a full-on lie. Just because you contemplate the possibility of something doesn't mean you're going to do it.

One of the few politicians who admitted he's thinking about running for President is... Rudy Guiliani.

Ace--

I have a few concerns with your prediction/ suggestion.

-- I think even the Bush camp is wary of promoting Jeb in 2008. Methinks Jeb will eventually run, but his chances will only increase over time, as distance from Dubya fades. That whole "dynasty" thing simply offers the Dems an easy angle that can be negated by waiting another four years.

Jeb's young, his life is ahead of him.
-- Rudy would make a great AG, but he ties himself to the Bush term. I think he's been plenty happy playing the maverick role in the media, ala McCain, so by signing up with Bush, his stocks get tied to Bush's.

Sure, Rudy's been out of circulation for a few years, but hardly out of sight, and all he has to do is keep busy until 2006 (it takes 2 years to run for POTUS).

Is he willing to be tainted?

-- Rudy is as pro-choice, if not more, than Ridge. If the war is not an issue in 2008, it'll be hard for him to get nominated in the primaries.

-- McCain for SECDEF? Please, PLEASE stop saying that, people.

I agree with his anti-pork/anti-defense waste stance, but take it from someone who's actually dealt with him and his staff: the man has an egotistical bully streak a mile long, and surrounds himself with sycophants who think the same.

The MSM tries to say Rumsfeld ignores advice and bullies the Services around, especially the Army? McCain thinks every Pentagon bureaucrat who disagrees with him is a liar. Or, at least that's the way he's carried himself on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

McCain's an American hero, and a patriot-- but he's also a preening primadonna that can't bear the thought of not getting his way.

He would be a terrible fit for the Pentagon bureaucracy-- either the one that exists today, or the responsive and efficient military us lowlife workerbees want to see emerge.

My two cents.

Cheers,
Dave

P.S. I'm really wondering whether Condi wants to enter politics. I'm betting that she doesn't. But, if she has any motivation to do so, I can see Cheney leaving in two years and Rice becoming Veep. One, it's great symbolism. Two, it gives Rice domestic experience she can't get if she takes the State or Defense jobs. Three, it gives Bush the heir he doesn't have, someone he seems to trust implicitly.

I'd be comfortable with that bet.

Ted Olson for AG??? NO! Save him for SCOTUS. Service as Solicitor General has been used as a stepping stone by several prior justices.

Guiliani has prior experience in the justice department and his replacing Ashcroft would be a good fit. Though to be honest, I'd love to see him take on Hillary for her senate seat in 2006.

As the Gong Resonants, Jeb Bush will not run for President in '08. 1. Jeb is not Presidental material, 2. The Hildabeast would eat him up, and 3. Jeb knows he's no match for the Hildabeast. There's no trifecta here. Rudy just might challenge the Hiladbeast in the NY senate race in '06 so the conservative gamers can tweak their battle plans for the '08 Prez race. WE, conseravtives, are already behind the MSM on the '08 race, the MSM'ers are already working for the Hildabeast.

Texas news: we have been waiting to make sure "W" is safely back in the White House before another Huntsville resident checks out. Well, tonight it looks like the 20th Huntsville resident will be checking out because he couldn't act like a civilized human being.

Bill,

What on earth did that last paragraph mean?

The Dems can't possibly run Hillary in '08. If they do, then they've learned absolutely nothing from 2004. A too-liberal, northeastern, shrill tight ass who thinks s/he knows better than everyone else (and especially the tacky wal-mart shoppers who live in fly over country) makes for a terrible candidate.

But it would be fun watching her go down, down, down.

Ace, he meant another Texas prisoner is about to be executed.

I think NewsMax has it right. Gonzales or Thompson. Hispanic or Black. Bush has a solid track record here and wants to work to build more minority Republicans.

Jeb Bush won't run and won't win if he does. He's as good a candidate as George W., but the U.S. doesn't like royalty, and three Bushes, broken only by Clinton, is too much. Guiliani likely won't get past the primary. I like him, despite his abortion position, but too many people don't. If Hillary is running, and the Republican is no better on abortion, the GOP gets slaughtered. Even worse, if the Dems put forth Evan Bayh from Indiana, he wins a third of the Republican votes against Guiliani. Nope, Rudy is a great VP candidate though.

Ace, he meant another Texas prisoner is about to be executed.

Okay, figured, but what does that have to do with Bush?

I happened to do a longpost about this earlier today. (All Welcome.) Jeb would not be a bad candidate, but I can think of several others who have the same sort of profile as the last couple of winning candidates, along the a few dark horse posibilities (who would have though that a peanut farmer with four years as Gov of Georgia could have become President?) Of course, the best of all possibilities is Candidate Hillary finally showing the legendary temper in public... Anyway, the net now lets the whole bunch of us thrash it out in public, and you know what that did for Dan Rather.

Rudy isn't just pro-choice, he's pro partial birth abortion. He's also pro affirmative action. He's a social LIBERAL, not a social moderate. I don't give him very good odds in winning the Presidency unless he does some serious tempering of his very liberal positions.

I love Rudy, and I'd like to see him in a position where domestic policy isn't central, but I will not support him for President, and I would not be happy if he got AG. Ted Olson should get AG.

Ted Olson for the SC is an excellent idea. If I remember correctly, the dean of the Harvard law school (blanking on his name, but he's a flaming liberal) endorsed him for SG. That, plus the fact that he's a 911 widower, would make it difficult for the Senate dems to slime him.

Maybe Texas held off on executions during the election so that Kerry wouldn't make an issue out of them? I dunno. Seems like not executing them would make it even more of an issue ("Bush executed {insert #} more than any governor ever, blah, blah, blah.").

Then again, how old is Ted Olson?

One of the beautiful things about the Scalia nomination is that he was so young when he was appointed to the court.

1. Giuliani has an abrasive NYC personality, and is a partial birth abortion supporter. Unfit to be President. In NYC for most of his Mayorship, he was hated but respected. Director of Homeland Security requires high diplomatic skills to work with other agencies & the States - and that ain't Rudy. Might be tempermentally suited for AG.

2. Condi is even less fit for highest office. No executive experience, never been elected to anything. Also weak. Used as a doormat by Rummy, Cheney, and their neocon seconds.

3. Now Viet Dinh is young....a fine SCOTUS nominee....Olson is acceptable to Dems, most likely, but he's 60-61. I'd like to see Dubya and Hillary work out a deal where Hill gets on the Court if she can talk Ginsburg into stepping down. (Ginsburg is dangerous. Believes she has other "sources of inspiration". Evolving global morality on guns, death penalty, suppression of "hate speech." She looks to precedents in European and Israeli laws, and constitutions - besides just going by the US Constitution. And has hooked the growingly senile O'Connor into her arguments.)

4. Wouldn't the Far Left go snakeshit if Reinquist goes and Bush appoints Ashcroft or Miguel Estrada as a recess appointment?

5. Seriously, Senator John Cornyn is well - qualified.

I'd love to see Rudy run - it will test the resolve of the Republicans to remain true to the pro-life position. Abortion has developed into today's parallel of the 19th-century "Slavery Problem". When either party formally abandons their position to adopt the position of the other side, they will become irrelevant and go the way of the Whigs. If that's the Republicans, they'd go from majority to nothing in 6.2 seconds, and the leadership should be smart enough to know it. Any prospective nominees - including Rudy - should know that they need to tow that line before they run or don't bother.

I don't vote FOR someone just because they're pro-life, but I certainly vote against anyone who isn't.

Darkhorse for Rep. Pres. Nom. '08 - Sam Brownback, Senator from Kansas. I think Sam is in a prime position to use events in the next four years to raise his notoriety and credibility if he stays on the same commitees he's on now and is aggressive. And if he can get Darfur back on the news table and effect a real change there it will be a real coup for him.

Black Republican -

Slavery didn't have the support of 70% of the American public in 1861. Abortion does now. If you could magically dispense with the judiciary - since realistically you could never get a Constitutional Amendment banning all abortion past the Senate and 3/4 of the State legislatures - you would be back to 1972.

Absent Roe v Wade abortion was legal in some states, more states were in line for legalization. The first bill Saint Ronald Reagan signed was legalizing 1st trimester abortions.

These days, 20-30 states would pass laws legalizing abortion. And women from other states could freely travel there.

Best thing Right to Lifers could do is get past a 19th Century Papal idiot who came up with the doctrine of baby=fertilized zygote/soul at conception...and end the fantasy of a minority of Bible-thumpers are going to impose their values on all Americans. Work to make abortion a thing that is treated as a big screwup - something odious - strive to make it safe, legal and RARE! Clinton said the last, but he was realistic on the prospects...

Since 1973, we have learned it is just a matter of DNA sequencing, fissioning, and culture technique to be able to clone as much tissue as we want. Possibly human egg cells next. Add a vial of semen to a bucket of cloned human eggs and what do you get - 100,000 babies in a bucket? True believers think so. We have also learned that 35% of "Blessed blastocysts" fail to implant. Over a 3rd of our precious wee babies end up un-noticed on a Kotex? Oh, what a cruel God!! Also, we have learned that every woman has a natural abortion system in her body - to shed a good deal of the deformed or unfit fetuses created. Either evolution to ensure more healthy babies are born and terminate failure early so more "quality reproduction" can happen - or if conception, gestation, and childbirth are all God's wonders - God himself added the abortion feature.

I'll take Right to Lifers seriously when I see them going door to door to collect used tampons and sanitary napkins they can pray over and bury, since that is the place most of the shed 35% of "Blessed baby blastocysts" end up at. More zygotes end up with that fate than are aborted. But the folks that wish to mess with others lives on the basis of their religious belief that "life/soul begins at the instant of conception" have not been heard crying "send out your used menstrual pads and tampons". Nor have they tried passing out leaflets with prayers on them a women could say when could lose a "baby" down the toilet bowl or shower drain.

The pity is the Christians had the practical "quickening" as a guide to when a baby was really there for 1800 years. The notion of a fully ensouled baby created at the instant of conception is a recent thing embraced by Catholics and even more ferverently by Evangelicals.

When a society like Russia aborts more than live childbirths it is a sign of a sick society. But zealots who want to impose their religious beliefs on all and succeed also create sick societies. Pro Lifers can go and live under Islam - where that vision has triumphed - abortion and a host of other things are illegal - but do Pro Lifers wish to live there? I doubt it, and I doubt the rest of the nation wishes for a Christian zealot version of Islam to rule America.

poker me up