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don't judge him by his clients (none / 0) (#4)
by jjray on Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 10:15:05 AM EST
Gonzales was incompetent and a political hack.  Olson is merely a political hack.  The root problem is independence.  The country needs and deserves an Attorney General who is independent enough to actually do to the job of investigating the executive branch of government for violations of the law.  Oh, and it would be nice if the AG would refrain from stuffing political ideologues into career DOJ positions (especially the civil rights division).  Alberto was a nightmare.  I don't trust that Olson would be an improvement.  The country would be better served by just keeping the status quo and allowing whoever is the acting AG in Alberto's absence to serve out the rest of W's term.  Olson is no less partisan than Alberto IMHO.  But he's more dangerous because he's an intelligent man who can actually make sense when interviewed.

he didn't get those clients (none / 0) (#5)
by scribe on Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 10:23:51 AM EST
by sitting in his office and taking whatever walked in the door.  

No.  You're absolutely wrong here.

He was an active part in building the Rethuglican infrastructure that coughed up the hairballs currently sitting in those high offices.  He helped cultivate the careers of the same people who now would appoint him to protect them from the laws.

He and his clients are two sides of the same coin.

Noscitur a sociis applies spectacularly well here.

[ Parent ]

Sounds like you are arguing (none / 0) (#6)
by Molly Bloom on Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 11:03:30 AM EST
that he is the lawyer defending the mafia don who has stepped beyond mere representation and has joined the criminal enterprise.

"Once in a while you get shown the light In the strangest of places if you look at it right"
[ Parent ]

More than that (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by scribe on Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 11:09:55 AM EST
he's one of the people most responsible for the don being the don.

The blood's on his hands.

[ Parent ]

Olson's (none / 0) (#12)
by tnthorpe on Fri Sep 14, 2007 at 12:21:52 PM EST
part of the problem, not any sort of solution. Is he going to reinvigorate the DOJ with more cases like this?

"In July [2001], in a case with potentially far-reaching implications for religious liberty and church-state separation, Solicitor General Ted Olson took the unusual step of asking the Supreme Court to take up the Ohio school voucher case. Lower courts have ruled that the program's publicly funded vouchers predominantly benefit religious schools and violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Olson's brief asked the justices to uphold Cleveland's voucher program, and was seen by Court observers as a way for the administration to send a signal to the Court about the importance of the issue to the administration. Religious Right organizations and their political allies hope that the Supreme Court will use the voucher case to radically alter its interpretation of the First Amendment and open the door to a wide range of government funding for religious institutions. "

Maybe it's brilliant lawyering, but it's horrible policy and we need someone who doesn't view the law through a radically politicized lens.

[ Parent ]

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