If he's sober, courteous, competent, not corrupt, and not an overt racist, he should be confirmed. Bush has no mandate to govern from the far right. Ordinarily, the opposition party cuts an incoming president a good deal of slack. But this appointment is different. Bush is no ordinary incoming president.
Attorney general is no ordinary presidential appointment.
Just after Christmas, President Clinton, using his power to make recess appointments, named Roger Gregory of Virginia, a distinguished black corporate attorney, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Gregory will be the southeastern circuit's first black appellate judge. His nomination had the support of Virginia's Republican Senator John Warner, but it had been blocked by Jesse Helms. Democrats need to learn this brand of courtesy. Otherwise George W. Bush might as well have won in a landslide.