Nominee for a Top Justice Dept. Post Withdraws
WASHINGTON, June 22 - The Bush administration’s nominee to be the Justice Department’s third-highest official withdrew his name from consideration on Friday in advance of a scheduled confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
The official, William W. Mercer, who has held the job of associate attorney general on a temporary basis since September 2006, will return to his job as United States attorney in Montana, which he kept pending his confirmation.
Although Mr. Mercer is staying at the agency, he is the sixth official to step down from a senior post at its headquarters in the uproar over the dismissals of federal prosecutors.
Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which was to hold next week’s hearing, called Mr. Mercer’s withdrawal an effort to keep information about the dismissals from the panel.
“The White House has found many ways to keep sunlight from reaching some of the darker corners of the Bush Justice Department, but this is a new one,” Mr. Leahy said. “With a confirmation hearing looming next Tuesday, they have withdrawn this nomination to avoid having to answer more questions under oath.”
Mr. Mercer appeared to have played a peripheral role in talks that led to the ousters, but he exchanged messages with several prosecutors after their dismissals and his name was on some of the e-mail disclosed by the department.
In a letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales on Friday, Mr. Mercer said he had concluded that even if he went ahead with the hearing, it was unlikely that his nomination would be voted on soon.
He cited “statements” by unnamed Congressional officials who he said had threatened to hold up votes on senior Justice Department nominees until the White House dropped its opposition to turning over e-mail and witnesses to the Senate.
“As a result,” he wrote, “my prospects of my confirmation seem as distant today as they have been over much of the last 10 months.”
Other officials who have resigned or said they will soon depart are Paul J. McNulty, deputy attorney general; D. Kyle Sampson, chief of staff to Mr. Gonzales; Monica M. Goodling, Mr. Sampson’s deputy; Michael J. Elston, Mr. McNulty’s deputy; and Michael A. Battle, who led the agency’s executive office.
Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_W._Mercer
Kinda says it all………..
Dishonesty, fueled by greed, is raging like a wild fire throughout government. It must be contagious as it has infected every nook and corner of every department. Molliecoddling the crooks appears to be the treatment of choice, allowing them free run even after having been convicted and sentenced. Justice is a sham and obviously no one is held accountable. Government and Civics teachers (if those subjects are still taught anywhere) must find it difficult, if not downright embarrassing to try to find honest examples to teach their students.
note to Leahy: SUBPOENA HIM.
I fail to understand any concern Mr. Mercer and friends would have with being under oath. The Bush gang have broken every oath they have taken, save for some secret blood oath taken together before the 2000 election that they would work together and use every means possible to drive the United States into a state of unrestrained Fascism. I also fail to see how his scandalous behavior in Montana would impact his confirmation hearings. The Democrats confirmed Samuel Alito Jr. and that Roberts guy to the Supreme Court. I mean, seriously, who WOULDN’T they confirm to an important post? It is hard to imagine what skeletons this guy must have in his closet to cause him to back down, because the skeletons everyone else Bush has nominated have put ON DISPLAY have been pretty damn scary. Maybe he tried to save a drowning kitten once, or helped an old lady cross a street. THESE little displays of humanity seem to be the only disqualifiers for Bush nominees.
And, yeah, seems pretty amazing that the Senate would think his withdrawal puts him out of reach for their inquiry into the Justice Department, but it probably does. Not exactly bulldogs, our Senators. “More money for the war we were elected to stop? SURE! Hey, how about some extra in case you see another country you’d like to bomb while you’re out there???” The Senate seems to think they are a “suggestive” body, capable only of throwing out ideas that the executive can freely reject. I remember this behavior so clearly under Reagan. Is it hypnotism, or the sham of democracy showing through. I couldn’t bring myself to put a question mark on that one.
Most of Bush’s choices look like people with an aversion to sex. They have this “pristine” uptight look so typical of authoritarians. So much of church rant is about sexual repression. These people wear the stigma in all aspects of their appearances. Carl Rove? Would any sane woman go to bed with him? Ditto that imbecile Newt. My imagination flashes back when I look at these and I see them all wearing tall pointy caps, quite happy in the role of Inquisitors.
This guy is too pale. Cheney must be the vampire who sucks his blood.
All the neocons are starting to look alike to me.
My suggestion to the Senate is don’t recess.
Russ: “This guy is too pale. Cheney must be the vampire who sucks his blood.”
Blood is not the only body fluid shared among male Cheney intimates.
Which wouldn’t be a problem were it not associated with so much self-hate and deception, which become the driving force behind so much neoconservative policy.
Well, somebody put in a call to Regent Law School to send up some more clowns for tryout as government lawyers.
Note to Moses Kassandra–Different Senate, different judiciary committee chairman. Maybe one way to keep the Bush adminstration at bay is to just scuttle new appointments so that there are fewer of these cats around to make mischief.
Right on, Siouxrose. These guys are some of the most repressed individuals around. I wonder about Barbara.
It seems like , if she’ll sleep with GW, she’d sleep with anybody!
I hope you mean Laura.
octotroph
Barbara Sr or Jr? Or is it Jenna? They are twins, you know, so he may have gotten confused…maybe had been drinking. What is the story of Oedipus? When GW scratches out his eyes, we will know that plantman got it right.
Peace
st john
“There they go again” Ronnie Raygun
Barbara…Laura…what’s the difference? Actually I got them crossed up but it turned out better anyway!
Plantman: Maybe it’s my own hormone cycle but the SEX issue IS pertinent to politics for this reason: notice how in the Arab world, between the burka and the taboos centered around any socializing between genders, sex becomes serious contents under pressure. Then given all that “juice on tap” it’s a powerful means to get young boys to think they can “give it up now” via suicide bomb, and get the bigger prize of “virgins on the other side.” The odd thing is the way that reciprocally in the US the intense focus on abstinence creates a similar sexual repression that is very useful to the armed services. Anger and passion are related, especially when healthy passion has not outlet for expression. Again, it goes back to religion using the demonization of sex (as central taboo) to control people, and then on the basis of that net loss of autonomy, wage wars because there is so much angst available to siphon into the conflict du jour. I wrote a musical comedy entitled BORN AGAIN and there’s a funny song called, “Spend End Times with Me.” I’d love to see this one hit the big stage! Humor has a way of getting people to face fallacies they otherwise could not countenance in themselves or others. Works for genius Robin Williams EVERY time, and Chris does Rock!
Yes, Siouxrose, what you say is so true. My own early awakening happened in 1966 at one of those BS “support the troops” rallies before it became popular to oppose the travesty in Vietnam. I was 15 (yes, I am an old fart) and had gone to show I was as sold on the John Wayne mythos as any red-blooded Amerikan youth. I couldn’t wait to join up and kill a commie for Christ.
In the crowd, comprised mainly of guys in VFW caps and various other klan members was a lone young man and his girlfriend. The youth sported a “Mske Love Not War”
button on his shirt. One of the war-lovers noticed it and started calling attention to it. Suddenly, the young man was surrounded by an angry mob clamoring for his skin! “Why, thats pure communist propaganda!” one old bastard shouted. “Wait a minute,” I thought to myself, “What does non-violent sex have to do with ownership of the means of production?” The guy and his girlfriend had to be escourted from the area by the police to prevent a riot. My heart went out to him for his courage in a sea of anger and hate and I started THINKING! I learned two things that day…that sexual repression goes hand in hand with mind-control of the population and that one has freedom of speech in America only as long as one does not exercise the right. Later, I learned alot more but that day stays with me to this one and I thank that unknown hero for opening my eyes and setting me on the path of knowledge.
Every day I pray for George and Dick’s enlightenment…
maybe today…maybe tomorrow…they’ll wake up like I did. Its certainly possible.
Plantman: Enlightenment makes the gods and angels cheer whenever and wherever it comes! Thank you for sharing this powerful anecdote. I realized the other day that with the exception of my husband (from Puerto Rico) EVERY man I ever had a serious intimate relationship with had been in some branch of the military (and of course, my father, as well). I remember an ad in Harper’s years ago that marketed an author’s book. It stated, “The woman who slept with men to take the war out of them.” I wonder what Ms. Bush would think of that title? It’s easy for me (as a woman) to speak from the sidelines, but the degree to which men endure macho rituals to PROVE they’re men is painful, disgusting and pervasive. I suppose you have read the disheartening stories by John Dear, a true advocate for peace, when he chronicles how marines were sent right by his home chanting, “Kill! Kill! Kill!” early in the morning. This is what I mean by MARS rules, that an entire society is conditioned to champion brute force over genuine diplomacy, reasoning, long-term planning (where does war get us?). I write about the planetary logos to share the liberating truth that just as there are more female archetypes than whore or madonna, there are other more suitable male expressions than that attributable to Mars. Sadly, our society is yet to applaud them, but we must remember 2 things: 1. the warning about the power of the US military industrial complex and 2. That there would be no McDonalds without MacDonnell Douglas as columnist Friedman stated. If mankind understood we belong to the land, not vice versa, all this militarism to store up STUFF and CLAIM turf might become an effete modus operandi. Let us hope that OUR efforts make a better world for our grandchildren.
What person with the slightest vague notion of morals would join this administration? I couldn’t even see why anyone would stay in it other than those who can hunker down until hopefully better times with the next administration.
IF Congress wished to do something important here they should greatly reduce the spoils system in the executive branch. More of the jobs should be civil service or appointed for a term that doesn’t always coincide with the presidential cycle. Of course, they refuse to do any part of their job that they took an oath to do.
There is sufficient proof of perjury on almost every member of Congress and Bu$h the inferior and even Shotgun Dick if anybody can figure out which branch of government he is in at any given moment. They were all lying when they said they would preserve and defend the constitution of the U.S..
Yeah, Mercer looks like the bastard of Karl Rove and Harriet Meirs.