Be Careful What You Wish For, Mr. Lott!
Without Federalist Society Judges Covering His Butt, Ted Olson's Going To Do For George W. Bush What He Did For Ronald Reagan
By Tamara Baker

Thursday, May 24, 2001 -- Saint Paul, MN (APJP) -- Very cute, Trent Loot... oops! I meant "Lott".

No, I didn't.

You knew you had to do something -- ANYTHING -- to get your boy, Ted Olson, confirmed as Solicitor General. 

So, taking advantage of special powers which you normally would never have, you pulled Olson's nomination out of committee and forced a squeaker of a vote, bare hours before salon.com released a letter it had received from Ralph J. Lemley, personal friend of Ronald Burr, the former publisher of The American Spectator.

This bombshell of a letter essentially accuses Olson of lying under oath with the intent to conceal from the Senate the depth of his involvement with the Arkansas Project. It also accuses Olson of engineering Ronald Burr's downfall because Burr was trying to conduct a proper audit of the American Spectator monies being spent on the Arkansas Project. I seriously doubt that Olson would have been confirmed, had this letter seen print just twenty-four hours earlier.

Enjoy your little chuckle, Trent Lott.

It's going to be the last one you'll have for a very long time.

See, David Neiwert did this article in Salon a few days ago. You might have seen it. It was all about how Ted Olson's arrogant stupidity nearly brought down this guy named Ronnie Reagan in 1982, the last time he acted as an official legal adviser to a President. 

Of course, you think that Olson's stupidity won't matter, because you're going to have all these shiny new Federalist Society Nazis sitting in judgeships across the land, ready to bail out Teddy's ass, should he screw up too much.

Think again.

Senator Patrick Leahy, not Orrin Hatch, now controls the Senate Judiciary Committee. The majority under Senator Leahy, from now on, gets to determine which judgeships even get looked at by the SJC. 

Remember how hard Leahy fought you guys on Olson? You should, being that the fight just came to an end. Leahy never, ever gave up, not with Salon's data backing up his fight. Leahy will have a much easier time just snuffing those nominations he doesn't like, thanks to your high-handed treatment of the GOP moderates -- treatment that caused Jim Jeffords to bolt your sorry-ass group and give control of the Senate back to the Democrats.

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Lott. I'm looking forward to seeing the ham-fisted Ted Olson do for George W. Bush what he very nearly did for Ronald Reagan...

...and get him thrown out of office!

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