The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Bring out the tiny violin for all those former high-riding Bush appointees -- it's tough pounding the pavement in their former Dear Leader's economy, and even tougher when no one wants the taint of Bush anywhere near them. The wingnut welfare, Paul Krugman noted, is in short supply these days. (WSJ):
The jobless rate is hanging high -- for many of the roughly 3,000 political appointees who served President George W. Bush. Finding work has proved a far tougher task than those appointees expected.
...Only 25% to 30% of ex-Bush officials seeking full-time jobs have succeeded, estimated Eric Vautour, a Washington recruiter at Russell Reynolds Associates Inc. That "is much, much worse" than when Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton left the White House, he said. At least half those presidents' senior staffers landed employment within a month after the administration ended, Mr. Vautour recalled.
...Washington think tanks, charities and trade associations long provided fertile ground for ex-political appointees. But many lack interest in hiring high-profile Republicans when Democrats control the White House and Congress. Mr. Bush's low approval ratings at the end of his term don't help, said Leonard Pfeiffer IV, a Washington recruiter for nonprofits.
One of the best spins on his unemployment status comes from former HHS secretary Mike Leavitt -- he will "spend a few months trying to align his interests with opportunities." And the full serving of schadenfreude goes to former AG Alberto "Torture" Gonzales, who's been pounding the pavement for a while now and is sore that no one wants to hire him.
Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.
He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales's case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government's chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.
...The greatest impediment to Mr. Gonzales's being offered the kind of high-salary job being snagged these days by lesser Justice Department officials, many lawyers agree, is his performance during his last few months in office. In that period, he was openly criticized by lawmakers for being untruthful in his sworn testimony. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend actions from exonerating him to recommending criminal charges. Friends set up a fund to help pay his legal bills.
For some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror.
Just pathetic. The loyal Bushies -- count among them Karl Rove, Margaret Spellings and tool Alberto Gonzales -- flew to Texas for Bush's "welcome home" fete after he passed the torch to Obama and became a former president. Apparently there was a little emotional man-love on the flight. Here's Gonzo reliving the moment and sharing it with Cox News reporter Ken Herman.
GONZALES: The last thing he said as he was getting off the plane - he kissed me on the forehead - and he said, "Just stay strong." [...]
HERMAN: Any tears shed on the plane by anybody? GONZALES: By me, yeah. There were a few.
HERMAN: Why?
GONZALES: Just pride. Just love and appreciation for the man and what he did, Ken. I feel - being on this trip did a lot for me, in terms of just making me realize - it was a small part, but I played a part in protecting our country, and I take a great deal of pride in that.
Watch this pathetic video of Gonzo; there's serious denial that all these Bush loyalists earned a paycheck on our dime as we watched them f*ck up the country.
January 20 cannot get here soon enough. I've had it with these brain-dead bigoted tools of the Bush Admin who reach high up in their posteriors to pull out BS like this to justify discrimination. Think Progress:
In September, the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee considered legislation that would provide federal benefits to same-sex domestic partners of federal employees. Howard Weizmann, the deputy director of the U.S. Office Of Personnel Management, objected to the bill because it "could lead to fraud and abuse in the programs we administer." Weizmann claimed that the office was unaware of any interest from federal employees for such benefits. He even evoked a fictional movie plot of two heterosexual New York firefighters who pretend to be a gay couple to suggest such fraud would be a problem in real life:
First of all, to suggest that we are being far-fetched in the sense that these benefits are open to fraud or abuse. It's not an unrealistic concern. I would suggest even Hollywood has discussed this in a movie with Adam Sandler. In which, I think, 'Chuck and Larry' get married, which the subject of the movie, was quite frankly, was insurance fraud, along the lines of what we're discussing. This is not far fetched and it's not disingenuous to suggest such.
Should we remove fed benefits from heterosexual couples because some marry under false pretenses in order to obtain a green card for the immigrant spouse?
The Bush Administration's economic reverse Midas touch hits law enforcement agencies around the country, as budget-busting fuel costs have police officers out of their cruisers and walking the beat. While face time with residents can be a good thing, without additional officers to cover the entire beat effectively, there's going to be a serious impact on response time to emergencies. Thanks, Dear Leader. USA Today:
• The Georgia Department of Public Safety is encouraging its 770 state troopers to reduce patrol time. Mileage reductions have ranged from 15% to 25% per month since January, Senior Trooper Larry Schnall says. In place of some patrols, troopers are conducting more radar surveillance or manning stationary checkpoints.
• In Fairfield County, Ohio, Sheriff Dave Phalen has dispatched a deputy in a golf cart to patrol one local community. Another golf cart is on the way, and he has ordered all deputies to shut down their patrol cars for 15 minutes every hour to walk the beat.
• In Anne Arundel County, Md., the sheriff's department has recalled 13 of the agency's 38 cruisers designated as take-home patrol vehicles. Officers assigned to those cars now must drive from their homes to headquarters to pick them up, Maj. Rick Tabor says.
...The Houston Police Department is spending millions of dollars to cover additional fuel costs. It has budgeted $8.6 million for fuel through the current fiscal year, which ends this month. Next year, those costs are expected to top $11 million, says Chief Harold Hurtt.
To control costs, Hurtt says 2% of the department's unmarked fleet - about 50 cars - is being converted to hybrid vehicles. The chief also is considering expanding foot and bicycle patrols in the city - strategies that come with different costs. "When you put people on foot, they can only cover small areas, and the response time is only as fast as they can run," Hurtt says.
Is there some good old fashioned gay-baiting in the air as the GOP wipes its collective spittle-laden chin over Scott McClellan? Take a look at the musings of former Talon News White House "reporter" Jeff Gannon.
Add me to the growing list of those who are having great difficulty understanding McClellan's motives. I spent two years as a White House reporter, much of it during McClellan's reign. At no time did Scott ever indicate, either publicly or privately, he had the misgivings he expressed in this book.
What I hear about the book does not sound like the Scott McClellan I knew for two years. I can say without fear of contradiction, that I knew Scott better than any other White House correspondent or Washington reporter.
Today the dead-enders still clinging to the hem of Bush's ermine have worked themselves up into a frothy frenzy of righteous indignation over the revelations-- none that are new to anyone who pays even a little attention-- in Scott McClellan's book. It's "total crap." He's a "traitor," a "turncoat," and a "Benedict Arnold." One Bush Regime propaganda tool has even managed to blame their bete noir, George Soros, and the always helpful National Review points out that Scotty is and has always been an agent of Hamas. Yesterday we wondered why none of the Regimebots had been calling Scotty a homo. Well, today the first shot in that direction from the Bush Regime's in-house male prostitute, Gannon/Guckert.
The Bush tell-all book extravaganza is under way, as Scotty McClellan, ex-shill ex-press secretary for Dear Leader, says in his new book, among other things, that -- gasp -- Bush used propaganda/lied to gain public support for the Iraq invasion! (via Raw Story):
* Bush and his aides "confused the propaganda campaign with the high level of candor and honesty so fundamentally needed to build and then sustain public support during a time of war";
* Some of McClellan's assertions before the White House press corps were, in retrospect, "badly misguided";
* Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby "had at best misled" McClellan about their roles in the notorious CIA leak case, even as McClellan publicly defended them;
* The White House was in a "state of denial" during the first week after the Hurricane Katrina disaster;
* Bush was "steamed" about his top economic adviser telling The Wall Street Journal that a possible Iraq war could cost as much as $200 billion. "He shouldn't be talking about that," said Bush, according to McClellan.
As you can see, there's a fair amount of posterior covering on Scotty's part. He just wasn't in the loop. Ironically, Scotty thought the press was too easy on him and should have pushed for more answers. Well, we all know how that goes -- the MSM was so worried about losing access to WH sources that they rolled over and played dead most of the time. About the only time they showed any balls was when it was clear Rove was a big fat liar about the Plame case.
UPDATE: Love this...Karl Rove starts the McClellan smear campaign, saying that the quotes he read "sound like a left wing blogger," not the Scott McClellan he knows.
Oh my. Just watch. This administration cannot end soon enough. Oh my. Just watch. This administration cannot end soon enough. Olbermann shows a pic of Dear Leader playing golf two months after he claimed he stopped playing "in solidarity" with grieving families who lost loved ones in his Iraq nightmare. That was bad enough, but his sacrifice wasn't even his own idea, so his handlers even saw this as some sort of noble gesture to spin -- it's an administration of completely morally and ethically bankrupt people, and KO had enough.
Part 1:
A snippet:
Finally tonight, as promised, a Special Comment on two topics a lot of us had foolishly thought, had naively hoped, we would not again have to address... and a third topic nobody thought a president would ever seriously mention in public unless perhaps he'd just been hit in the head with something and was not in full possession of his faculties - how he expressed his "empathy" to the families of the dead in Iraq - by giving up golf.
The President has resorted anew to the sleaziest fear-mongering and mass manipulation of an administration - of a public life - dedicated to realizing the lowest of our expectations.
(UPDATE: The GOP is in a panic over the legacy of this administration and its effect on November elections. See below the fold.)
We all know Dear Leader has no shame, but here's yet another example of his terror alert leash jerking and fearmongering, intimating that electing a Democrat will lead to disaster if the U.S. withdraws from Iraq.
President Bush warned in an interview Tuesday that the Democratic presidential candidates' plans to withdraw abruptly from Iraq could "eventually lead to another attack on the United States" and would "embolden" terrorists.
In a White House interview with Politico and Yahoo News - a president's first for an online audience - Bush said his doomsday scenario for a premature withdrawal "of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."
I hate to break it to his highness, but he f*cked up the whole region with his Big Military Adventure. It's hard to imagine anyone screwing over both this country and Iraq any more than he has.
In the interview, he also shows how he prays away any guilt at sending young Americans to perish fighting military battles based on his bad judgment and Darth's dark hand. God's comfort is all these families need, not an apology from the man sitting in the Oval Office.
His Christian faith has increased in office, since "part of the faith walk is to understand your weaknesses and is to constantly try to embetter yourself and get closer to the Lord, and that's a daily occurrence."
"Obviously, there's been some tough moments in here," he said. "When you know that somebody lost their loved one as a result of a decision that I made, that's a tough moment. If you're a faithful person, you try to empathize with the suffering that that person is going through. On the other hand, there is a knowledge that the good Lord can comfort during these moments of grief. And that's what I ask for in my prayer."
And what can only be described as the public ramblings of a sociopath, our president said he shows his solidarity with families who have lost loved ones in his military misadventure by...not going out on the links anymore. I'm not sh*tting you.
Rotten to the core. The stench eminating from the BushCo administration requires a gas mask at this point. The corrupt anti-gay head of the Office of Special Counsel, Scott Bloch, who allegedly employed Geek Squad to try to scrub emails from his computer before the FBI took away his office and home computers, is a busy tool. While he was coming up with that ace cleansing project, he also deep-sixed an investigation into politically motivated allegedly illegal activities by the dark lord Karl Rove. TPM:
According to a memo from seven employees of the Office of Special Counsel, department head Scott Bloch, whose office was raided last week during an investigation into whether his office was used for political motivations, ordered the closing of an investigation into allegations that former White House adviser Karl Rove attempted to make the frontrunner candidate for governor in Alabama Don Siegelman (D) a target for prosecution.
The memo documents the frustration of the employees.
[O]n Oct. 11, OSC chief Scott J. Bloch ordered the case file be closed immediately, saying that he had not authorized it, seven career employees wrote in an internal draft memo made public last week.
"After concerns are expressed that OSC simply cannot close a file without conducting an investigation into theses [sic] allegations, the TF [task force] is directed to not further investigate this case and to wait for further instructions from the Special Counsel," the employees wrote in the document dated Jan. 18.
That episode and others detailed in the 13-page memo illustrate how the controversial Bush appointee, whom critics on Capitol Hill and elsewhere have accused of political bias and managerial misconduct, frequently has been at odds with top career staffers over which cases should be pursued by the principal office protecting federal whistle-blowers and policing partisan politicking in the federal workplace.
Schadenfreude. This news is beautiful as it concerns the homophobic head of the Office of Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch. One of the charges is that he hired Geek Squad to scrub emails from his computer.
The office of the official responsible for protecting federal workers from political interference was raided by F.B.I. agents on Tuesday as part of an investigation into whether he himself mixed politics with official business.
The raid took place at the office of Scott J. Bloch, the head of the Office of Special Counsel. Computers and documents were seized by agents trying to determine whether Mr. Bloch obstructed justice by hiring an outside company to "scrub" his computer files, The Associated Press reported. Investigators were also said to be obtaining a subpoena to search Mr. Bloch's home.
"It is shocking that the individual who is primarily responsible for investigating federal whistleblower complaints would be the target of an investigation in which he and his staff are suspected of obstructing justice."
"The Bush administration must take whistleblower protection seriously, relieve Mr. Bloch of his position, and appoint a Special Counsel who possesses the necessary qualifications and integrity to do the job right."
More on Bloch's anti-gay activities on the job below the fold.
You'll find out the one member of the administration who made the above statement below the fold. It's hard to find any words to describe how sick this is. The ABC headline says it all: Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation'.
In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.
...The high-level discussions about these "enhanced interrogation techniques" were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic.
The advisers were members of the National Security Council's Principals Committee, a select group of senior officials who met frequently to advise President Bush on issues of national security policy. At the time, the Principals Committee included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft.
I guess it's bye-bye to that VP fantasy, Condi. Below the fold, there was only one member of that committee who had any reservations about the path of torture they were taking.
A senior priest in Florence is under investigation for fraud after allegedly amassing £3 million by performing fake exorcisms. Prosecutors said that Father Francesco Saverio Bazzoffi would "stage shows" at the House of the Sainted Archangels, an organisation he founded.
During the events, which regularly attracted crowds of over 400 people, a number of associates would "pretend to be possessed by demons" and Fr Bazzoffi would allegedly exorcise them using ancient and obscure rites.
He would then offer to "heal" members of the audience who were sick, and solicit donations to his organisation. One witness told police: "During Mass, the priest spoke in Aramaic, and strange things happened. I do not know if it was group hysteria or our suggestibility, but I remember one old woman screaming in a man's voice while five big guys held her down."
...Fr Bazzoffi denies that he had "ever practised" exorcisms and admitted that he did not have a licence. "I have always only carried out blessings," he said.
Will we see an outcry from the professional "Christian" set, the Dobsons, Perkins, and all the rest about this story of heinous abuse in Mississippi? Don't hold your breath. They are too busy panicking over the Brown Menace and the Homosexual Agenda. Between the Taser misuse and abuse and the treatment detailed in this story, there are much bigger fish to fry. (CNN):
Represented by attorneys with the Southern Poverty Law Center, Erica and nine other girls housed at Columbia are suing the state, claiming they endured a range of sexual and physical abuse, including shackling. Don Desper, a licensed therapist and former employee at Columbia who opposed the practice, told CNN it was used to prevent the teens from escaping.
In a handwritten affidavit, a 15-year-old girl described a male guard molesting her. She wrote: "He came inside my cell half way half of his body and he started touching me and he tryed (sic) to kiss me and then he left he came back with my snack in his hand and he opened my cell again and he started grabbing me around my waist and he tryed (sic) to stick his hands in my pants and I started crying."
When the lawsuit was filed in 2007, a U.S. Justice Department monitor was making periodic inspections at Columbia as part of a 2005 settlement with Mississippi in a previous case. The Justice investigation that led to that settlement found Columbia youths were hog-tied, forced to strip and eat their own vomit and were held in isolation in what was called the "Dark Room," a windowless room with a hole in the floor used as a toilet. Read the Justice Department report that describes girls being shackled to poles
In Ohio, things aren't any better. Read below the fold.
The parade of felons, incompetents and general purpose corrupt bureaucrats continues as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and Bush head-rubbing mascot Alphonso Jackson resigns in the shadow of a federal investigation.
Mr. Jackson, 62, has been under investigation by the Justice Department and the housing department's inspector general in inquiries focusing on whether he gave lucrative housing contracts to friends. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has interviewed several of his employees.
...In 2004, less than two months after his confirmation as housing secretary, Mr. Jackson told a House panel that he believed poverty "is a state of mind, not a condition." Two years later, he said in a speech that he had canceled a contract for a company after its president told him that he did not like Mr. Bush. Mr. Jackson later said he had made the story up.
Alas, we won't have Alphonso Jackson to kick around anymore. He simply will fade into history as perhaps the least effectual of the incompetent, scandal-plagued bunglers like Michael Brown and Harriet Miers who came to define the Bush administration. But like Rick and Ilsa always had Paris in Casablanca, the American people will always have this image of George W. Bush and Alphonso Jackson.
(No need to liveblog this crap-- the whole speech is up at Think Progress. One observation I can make is that the applause is tepid and Dems are looking incredibly bored.)
Here's what the White House has up on its web site about Bush's final SOTU speech's "policy initiatives." Read and laugh as he tries to salvage his presidency. A couple of laff-fest highlights...
First, the economy, which is hard to sugar-coat these days, but he tries mightily, and absurdly, to use as the justification to make his tax cuts permanent. And how's that worked out for you so far, W?
To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. America has added jobs for a record 52 straight months, but jobs are now growing at a slower pace. Wages are up, but so are prices for food and gas. Exports are rising, but the housing market has declined. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future.
And the smartassery abounds -- how presidential is this?
Some in Washington argue that letting tax relief expire is not a tax increase. Try explaining that to 116 million American taxpayers who would see their taxes rise by an average of $1,800. Others have said they would personally be happy to pay higher taxes. I welcome their enthusiasm, and I am pleased to report that the IRS accepts both checks and money orders.
Don't worry, Shrub, we'll be paying for your military misadventures for years. What's ridiculous about his threat to veto a bill is that is laden with pork and earmarks, is that he and the GOP
“The people’s trust in their Government is undermined by congressional earmarks — special interest projects that are often snuck in at the last minute, without discussion or debate.”
Truth report -- under the GOP-led Congress, federal earmarks have exploded, including ones Bush tucked in himself, such as $24 million for the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.
And you won't believe how he manages to bring up 9/11 claim he's almost there in achieving justice. It's after the jump.
Thank you, CREW. Maybe now we'll learn how many times Jeff Gannon was roaming the White House at night, and which professional fundie operatives were trying to put the moves on the administration.
White House visitor logs are public documents, a federal judge ruled Monday, rejecting a legal strategy that the Bush administration had hoped would get around public records laws.
The ruling is a blow to the Bush administration and prominent religious conservatives.
Visitor records are created by the Secret Service, which is subject to the Freedom of Information Act. But the Bush administration has ordered the data turned over to the White House, where they are treated as presidential records outside the scope of the public records law.
But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence remain Secret Service documents and are subject to public records requests.
In a lawsuit brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a liberal watchdog group, Lamberth ordered the Secret Service to turn over visitor logs regarding nine conservative religious commentators, including James Dobson, Gary Bauer and Jerry Falwell.
"I think it's hugely significant," said Anne L. Weismann, the watchdog group's chief counsel. "The judge saw their arguments for what they were."
This also means those records can't be destroyed. Although with this rogue administration, they like to dispose of things that might prove problematic for it.
...and Dear Leader said he has "no recollection" of the existence of video tapes and the plan to destroy them.
The CIA says it wiped two tapes of interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects to protect the identities of its agents.
But human rights groups accuse it of destroying evidence of practices that may be tantamount to torture.
A US Senate committee has promised a thorough investigation into the history of the making and wiping of the tapes.
Mr Bush continued to have confidence in CIA Director Michael Hayden, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
The president "did not remember" being told of the tapes prior to Thursday, she said.
The CIA confirmed on Thursday allegations in the New York Times that two tapes were destroyed in 2005.
Officials feared the tapes could have raised doubts about the legality of the CIA's techniques, the newspaper says.
This comes after the news that the 9/11 commission had asked the CIA about the existence of any tapes, and were told "no."
Only in America can high-level elected officials prefer to be seen as stupid and unaware given their levels of responsibility versus corrupt, lying bastards. Of course they usually turn out to be the latter, but hey, the American sheeple have a short attention span and is ultimately forgiving, right?
* Water boarding: prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round his head. Water is poured onto his face and is said to produce a fear of drowning
* Cold cell: prisoner made to stand naked in a cold, though not freezing, cell and doused with water
* Standing: Prisoners stand for 40 hours and more, shackled to the floor
* Belly slap: a hard slap to the stomach with an open hand. This is designed to be painful but not to cause injury
Source: Described to ABC News by un-named CIA agents in 2005
If Gonzales is replaced by Homeland Insecurity head Michael Chertoff, CNN's sources say that DHS will be headed up by Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget.
It would be yet another hack appointment, a friend of Bush, completely unqualified to defend the homeland, as it were. Think Progress:
Johnson, who has no homeland security experience, is a professional Bush loyalist. While Johnson may have familiarity with some aspects of DHS's budget, he appears to have no experience in the many responsibilities of the department, including immigration, air travel security, disaster response, and other aspects of our nation's homeland defense.
He's just the tip of the iceberg; the entire administration is corrupt to the core. (AP):
Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, under fire from congressional Democrats, has resigned, senior Bush administration officials said Monday.
A senior Justice Department official said that a likely temporary replacement for Gonzales is Solicitor General Paul Clement, who would take over until a permanent replacement is found.
Another official, also speaking on grounds of anonymity, said that Gonzales had submitted a resignation letter last Friday. These officials declined to be identified because the formal announcement about Gonzales was still pending.
When shall we expect to see him to receive a Medal of Freedom from Dear Leader?
This weekend there were rumors that master-of-Katrina-disaster Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would eventually take over for Gonzo, which is simply high comedy. (US News & World Report):
Why Chertoff? Officials say he's got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.