Update: Michael Garcia, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is also leaving early. He's going to Kirkland and Ellis.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey yesterday announced the resignation of Thomas Barnett, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-Trust Division.

Barnett was confirmed by the Senate as Assistant Attorney General of the Antitrust Division on Feb. 10, 2006. He became acting Assistant Attorney General on June 25, 2005, and previously served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General since April 18, 2004.

I suspect many of Bush's political appointees had their resumes out before the election. It's not like the handwriting wasn't on the wall.

In addition to an Attorney General, Obama will appoint 93 United States Attorneys, one for each district. These jobs are political plums. They don't always (or even mostly) go to trial lawyers. U.S. Attorneys rarely try cases themselves (Patrick Fitzgerald is one exception who comes to mind), they run the office and implement the agenda of the new Attorney General and the Administration. [More...]

Ana Marie Cox has an extensive interview in the Daily Beast with Steve Schmidt, the chief strategist of John McCain's campaign.

When he knew McCain would lose? September 29.

On the future of the Republican party:'

“The party in the Northeast is all but extinct; the party on the West Coast is all but extinct...there has to be a message and a vision that is compelling to people in order for them to come back and to give consideration to the Republican Party again.”

Lots of good quotes here -- on leaks, on Palin and more.

Alabama Rep. Artur Davis, whose name has been floated for months as a possible Obama Attorney General pick, says he's not interested. He'd rather run for Governor of Alabama.

Fine by me, as I wrote here back in May.

I am going to be off line for the rest of the day. Some parting shots. Atrios writes:

Tom Friedman was much an Iraq war critic as I have been a Barack Obama critic . . .

This is true and was true of the entire Left blogs for the past year. They should not all be surprised now when they discover Obama actually agrees with me, not them, on issues like free trade, Clintonomics, the war on terror, etc. Obama was never with them. They chose to ignore that for the past year. I must admit I find their discomfiture funny as all hell. Relatedly, Kevin Drum writes:

To a large (though not complete) extent, the blogosphere doesn't really oppose the MSM anymore, it is the MSM — and vice versa. This was probably inevitable, but it's still kind of a shame. Surely this means that there's now a market for yet another new medium, this time dedicated to criticizing the blogosphere?

I am trying to find out Kevin. Gators travel to Nashville tonight to face Vandy in their drive for the SEC and college football national chanpionships. Go Gators!

This is an Open Thread.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

I was exchanging e-mails with Ed Whelan the other day (yes NRO's Ed Whelan) and I told him him that I would certainly defend the GOP Senate caucus' right to filibuster judges even though I would likely disagree with their criteria for doing so. Ed responded that he would criticize such GOP tactics. I'll do my part here. Via Steve Benen, GOP Senator Jon Kyl says:

Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, warned president-elect Barack Obama that he would filibuster U.S. Supreme Court appointments if those nominees were too liberal. . . . Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

That is absolutely the right of the GOP minority. This is their exercise of the Constitutional advise and consent role. While I disagree with their views on judges, they are Senators and have the right, even the duty, to exercise their Constitutional powers. Now what I want to know is what the Gang of 14 has to say aout this? And I expect to hear no objections to the Nuclear Option, (excuse me, I mean the I mean Constitutional Option from any Republicans now. I certainly will object to it. They can not without exposing their base hypocrisy.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

It is said that John Kerry wants to be Secretary of State. What do you think about that?

This is an Open Thread.

Via Corrente:

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, who has a history of going his own way on major policy matters, Friday announced plans to unveil his own “specific goals and policy options for comprehensive health care reform in 2009” next week — without waiting for the detailed proposals of President-elect Barack Obama .

If you know anything about Max Baucus, you know this is bad news. Ironically, the proponents of health care reform and President-Elect Obama may need Senator Hillary Clinton to get into it with Baucus. She probably is the one person with enough credibility and political muscle to knock Baucus around on this. You think the blogs would welcome that? I doubt they care.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only

Via Digby:

[Andrea] Mitchell: Let's talk about the State department and foreign policy. John Kerry, widely anticipated to be at least one of the people considered, really wants the job, although with joe Biden leaving the foreign relations committee,if he doesn't get the job, he would be the foreign relations chairman because he has the seniority. . .

Feldman: What I saw the other day is the domino effect of Kerry as Secretary of State might put the Democratic caucus in a position where Senator Feingold would be the next up to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and of course that poses a whole series of problems . . .

Mitchell: Why does it pose a series of problems?

Feldman: Well, because of Senator Feingold's opposition to the war . . . I think that would immediately then raise some issues for the caucus and for leader Reid . . .

Mitchell: But the president [elect] of the United States is opposed to the war. . .

Feldman: This is true, but I think they'll want in foreign relations is maybe a more even handed person. Ben (sic) Nelson's name has been floated there as a potential consensus pick...

By Big Tent Democrat

Democratic senators will be playing musical committee chairs as they prepare to begin the next legislative term. The venerable Robert Byrd, 91 and in less than perfect health, announced today that he's stepping down as chair of the Appropriations Committee. Next in line for that position is the venerable Daniel Inouye, 84. Inouye recently showed that he is no judge of character by testifying to Ted Stevens' good character during Stevens' trial, and by later predicting that Stevens' conviction will be overturned on appeal and that Stevens will win reelection. Let's hope Inouye is a better judge of government spending than he is of character.

Inouye will give up his Commerce Committee chair, which will go to John Rockefeller IV unless Rockefeller continues to chair Intelligence, when it would instead go to John Kerry unless Kerry takes Joe Biden's place as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee. Harry Ried would like to stick Joe Lieberman with the Small Business Committee chair that Kerry now holds, but Lieberman, the current chair of Homeland Security and Government Affairs, apparently thinks he still has enough clout to reject that offer.

Tracey Chapman told us what to do in this 1995 song: start all over and make a new beginning. On November 4, 2008, we did. This is an open thread.

The jury in John Connolly's latest trial heard a "sordid story about how people looking to give information to the FBI in Boston had this funny habit of turning up dead.” As early as 1965, FBI agents in Boston were protecting serious criminals from prosecution -- effectively enabling them to continue victimizing the innocent -- in exchange for the information they provided about other criminals.

FBI Agent John Connolly was at the heart of the corrupt alliance between Boston's FBI office and criminal informants who were given a virtual license to conduct crimes of their own. In 1982, Connolly tipped off his informant, gun and drug runner James Bulger, that gambling executive John Callahan might implicate him in a killing. Callahan was soon shot to death. On Thursday, Connolly was convicted of second degree murder for the role he played in Callahan's death.

Long-time TalkLeft readers might remember Connolly's name and the scandal in which he was involved. [more ...]

Apparently, some people are blaming African-American voters in California (instead of the obvious culprit, the radical right fundamentalists) for the passing of Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. The progressive group People for the American Way (PFAW),which has done great work evaluating judicial nominees, says it's not true. From their Memorandum today:

Republicans and white churchgoers, among many other groups, voted for Prop. 8 at higher rates than African Americans. There are few African Americans in the inland counties that all voted overwhelmingly to strip marriage equality out of the California constitution. So why single out African Americans? Who’s really to blame? The Religious Right. Let’s start here:

• Conservative evangelical leaders who are unremittingly hostile to the rights of gay people and who put Prop. 8 on the ballot and bombarded pastors, churchgoers, and the public with lies about gay people wanting to destroy their religious liberty and come for their children – even suggesting that Christians would be thrown in jail if Prop 8 passed.
  
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