Carrying Water for Schumer and Leahy

The New York Times reports on President Bush’s selection of a nominee to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. It turns out, though, that there isn’t any real news to report. The Times says that Bush is “closing in on a nominee,” but several possibilities are still under consideration, and the Times’ account contains little or nothing that is new.
The point of the Times story seems to be to discourage the administration from nominating Ted Olson, whom the paper describes as a “staunch partisan.” The Times rehashes controversies from the 1990s in which Olson was marginally involved, and goes to Senators Schumer and Leahy for comment.
Schumer says that Ted Olson wouldn’t be on “a list of consensus nominees.” No kidding! In today’s Washington atmosphere, it is hard to imagine what a list of “consensus nominees” might consist of, but we can be sure that no one with any credentials as a Republican would be on it.
Leahy says that Bush should nominate someone “independent” who “will act as an independent check on this administration