It's repeated when anyone dares to note that, gee whiz, Gore's popular lead is now about half a million votes. And now it's also aimed at anyone with the gall to challenge an appointment to the Bush Cabinet. Which brings us to the subject of balance. In this case, survival may be less a matter of divine than political intervention.
Senators look favorably on securing sheltered workshops for the voter-retired members of their club.
Unless he's hired an illegal alien, we are told, he'll probably be confirmed. In general, I agree that a president is entitled to make his own executive picks. Never mind that this idea eluded Ashcroft himself in his opposition to Clinton appointees like Bill Lann Lee as assistant attorney general for civil rights and Henry Foster as surgeon general. This is a man who has a paper trail opposing individual, civil, and women's rights. And he's made opposition to abortion the center of his political and moral life.