Wait and See

Ok, Bush is putting up a former judge named Michael Mukasey to replace the late great Alberto "I do not recall, Senator" Gonzales. Initial reaction see to be that he's not a total tool:

CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin called Mukasey "an extraordinary difference from John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales," President Bush's first two attorney generals, both considered very conservative.

"Mukasey comes out of a New York moderate tradition that goes back to Thomas Dewey; Lawrence Walsh, Iran-Contra prosecutor; Robert Fisk, first independent counsel in the Whitewater case," Toobin said. "These are all sort of moderate Republicans, not especially political people."

Also see Glenn Greewald on signs of independence from Mukasey.

If Mukasey turns out to be the least bit independent that means some pretty embarrassing subpoenas are going to get approved. Its only been the complete toolishnish of Gonzales that has kept a number of Bush administration out of jail for contempt of Congress.