Now that it's all over, I'd like to point out something.
Even though there was controversy surrounding his Labor appointee and Attorney General, the vast majority of Bush's appointments were fair and made it through the senate with little or no resistance.
I know that many people here lambasted the Dems and others for daring to oppose a Bush nomination, but that wasn't really fair. Opposition to two appointees lead to the voluntary withdrawl of one candidate (whats-her-face), and though the heated battle for Attorney General was fierce, it did eventually lead to a nomination for Ashcroft.
Overall, the Democrats have responded well to Bush, and seem to indicate a willingness to work with the new adminstration.
Now I'm only saying this because there are people on this board who jump to conclusions, and often attack other members with labels and insults. If we now look back on this issue, which sponsered many heated threads here in AT-OT, it seems kind of silly that we even argued the point in the first place. I mean, Bush's nomination for Labor secretary had herself violated the laws she was expected to enforce. A no-brainer here, she had to go, but the next appointee went through with out a hitch. As far as Ashcroft goes, well, his right-wing stances, and his persecution of Judge White, led to his confirmation hearing being tough, and it was amazing that Bush did nominate him in the first place. In the long run though, he actually did get his nomination.
Overall though, the nominations went well, with little bad feeling (cept for Ashcroft). And anyone calling the treatment or handling of the candidates unfair really needs to look again.
The entire hearing process made me quite proud. It really seems, with little exception, that both sides of the aisle can work together. Honestly, I believe that Bush is starting with a government that wants to work with him. Whether this is his doing, or just the recognition by the political entities that the time for partisanship is over, I'm not sure. But I think Bush has a wonderful opportunity.
For the Dems and independents (like myself), Bush is the president, and love him or hate him, we have to work with him. For the repubs, sponsoring a positive dialog, and demonstrating a desire to listen and work with the "other-side" would probably mean four more years, after this term, for the Republicans.
Well, I diverged a bit, but the point was that in hind-sight, I believe the nomination process was a marked success for all around. Even though Ashcroft, controversial as he is, was nominated, a message was sent to him to keep a quiet tone, at least for the short term. No reason to be ashamed of the nomination process, it worked this time fine.
Don't mind me, just some aimless ramblings of an old man.
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