Maybe Ted Olson did not want the job.

Perhaps he removed himself from the short list of candidates considered for Attorney General, or better yet, maybe he was never really on the list. I never heard from the President or Mr. Olson that this assertion had any teeth.

Did Chuck Schumer get a heads up from one of those career Democrats in the Justice Department that Judge Michael Mukasey was the Presidents choice allowing him to come out along with Senator Reid and let all conservatives know they would support this man if nominated? And did the base buy this trick that the left has used effectively before?

We’ll see exactly how pleased the Democrats are with this choice at the Senate confirmation hearing. I would bet even money that it won’t be a love fest and I would lay the same odds that within the first few months of confirmation something will be done at Justice which will be on the front page of the papers for weeks to come and it won’t be positive.

I have read many blogs today on this issue and while almost everyone admits they know little about this gentleman,(I was enlightened as to his credentials after reading this,) many are simply disappointed because they preferred Ted Olson. If we don’t hold our powder on this and create another foot stomping firestorm it will serve no purpose but trouble for the Right. It will play, once again, right into the hands of some of the most devious politicians Washington has ever known. Maybe if we lose the White House and both houses of Congress remain in the hands of the Democrats some will learn their lesson.

Is Ted Olson a good man, certainly. Was he the only option President Bush had for this position, no. I’d make one last bet, this selection was not about Chuck Schumer or Harry Reid or bloggers opinions or anything in the major media.

There was one man in the end deciding what he felt would be best for the Department of Justice at this time. And I for one will at least allow the Judge the opportunity to succeed before I condemn him. If his nomination proves to have been a mistake it will lie with one man, the President, and I am certain there will not be enough bandwidth, paper or words to make it known.

Many were revved up for a bruising battle in the Senate. Why? It was not their name or reputation which would have been smeared by pompous politicians or the press. Another good man would have been drug through the mud in a dog and pony show. Ted Olson deserves better than that, and if he was in the running maybe the circus atmosphere in Washington convinced him and his family to respectfully decline. I don’t know the backstory and I doubt many others do either.

Conservatives had better be very careful in this last year leading up to a very important election. In January 2009 will it really make any difference who the Presidents chose as his Attorney General, I think not. But our political landscape could be changed for a number of years if we once again jump the shark on this issue.

UPDATE: We won’t even have to wait for the hearings, the Democrats have already begun their maneuvers.

Just hours after President Bush said he will nominate Michael B. Mukasey, a former federal judge from New York, as his next attorney general, Senate Democrats threatened today to hold up Mr. Mukasey’s confirmation unless the White House turns over some documents they are seeking.

One would hope this would be enough to convince many on the right that the Democrats have chosen to do nothing but obstruct. This type of behavior should anger and unite the Republican base and make them all the more determined to see the President’s nominee confirmed. We’ll see.