Friday
Screwed both ways
Yglesias at Tapped, catches an absurd rhetorical maneuver by Byron York at National Review. Anyone who has paid any attention to right-wing pundits, magazinse, and blogs (National Review and its writers fall under all of those categories) discussing Senate confirmation of Bush appointees must have seen the claim made that very wide discretion should be given to the President's choices, and that opposition should only be considered...I'm not even sure under what circumstances National Review would agree that a Bush appointee should be opposed. So opposition is tarred as obstruction, keeping the Senate from performing its proper function.
But now National Review reveals that if the appointee turns out to be completely unqualified and incompetent (see Michael Brown. Better yet, don't.), the criticism should be directed at the Democratic Senators who didn't obstruct the confirmation, rather than the administration which picked him out from among all possible candidates. Bravo, Byron, bravo.
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But now National Review reveals that if the appointee turns out to be completely unqualified and incompetent (see Michael Brown. Better yet, don't.), the criticism should be directed at the Democratic Senators who didn't obstruct the confirmation, rather than the administration which picked him out from among all possible candidates. Bravo, Byron, bravo.
