The dark occasion of the Mukasey confirmation-to-be, addressed in Glenn's update, is indeed an appropriate yang to the yin of Senator Dodd's welcome principled action today. I made this comment elsewhere recently:

I’d just as soon have the abominable formality of confirmation hearings held secretly in the dead of night, the way unpopular legislation is passed.

It’s always the same tired farce: Senators showboat and grandstand to the cheap seats, make tendentious, bloviating speeches wrapped around the pretext of questioning the nominee, harrumph about Grave Concerns and Reservations, and then rubber-stamp the nominee, just as we always knew they would.

Leahy already made a deal to lighten up on the investigation of DOJ “irregularities” during Gonzalez’ tenure in exchange for President Unitard nominating an “acceptable” AG candidate; I’m sure Mukasey’s in.

This exercise has all the authenticity and seriousness of a porn flick, down to the simulated passion of professional actors.

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Whether there's an explicit gentleman's agreement to give Mukasey a pass, or just an intuitive common understanding, it is perfectly defensible in the Flatlander process-and-strategy obsessed mindset of the moderate partisan loyalist: picking the battles; keeping the powder dry; evaluating the cost/(political) benefits; not making the perfect yada yada yada...

IMO, setting aside for the moment Dodd's exceptional conduct today, I believe that there is a profound difference between the present generation of the US political elite and the generation who presided over Nixon's untimely exit in 1974. To offer a very generalized, rough, and admittedly unresearched view, I believe that Sam Ervin, Judge John Sirica et al, straightforwardly believed that there were solemn duties and responsibilities inherent in their high offices that transcended mere political calculation. Even John Dean abandoned his partisan and personal loyalties and came in from the cold.

What I am calling the "Flatlander" chessboard-perspective of politics as an elaborate wrestling match between contestants is certainly real, and a compelling essence of political life and action. But then, the chessboard wasn't the ultimate "four corners" of the Constitutionally-grounded sociopolitical compact with We the People. Politicians still recognized and respected that they were responsible for executing formal duties of office that trumped political calculation.

I believe that the blowback from the Nixon Interruptus era and the contrived, pretextual obscenity of the Clinton impeachment propelled the political elite into a nihilistic vacuum in which political calculation is indeed the be-all and end-all. I believe this to be a symptom, perhaps fatal, of the decadence of our political process. The transmogrification of politicians from at least occasional high-minded selfless leaders into grubby technocratic deal-makers, unwilling to take risks or grasp the nettle in such high-stakes proceedings as nominating an attorney-general, renders the politically sacrosanct principles embedded in the Constitution merely "quaint".

The Democrats, or at least their leadership, is either co-opted, complicit, or craven-- or all of the above. Politics ain't beanbag, it's said-- but I would welcome watching the Dems fling a few beanbags like Dodd flung at the telecom Goliaths today.