Monday Roundup: The Path of Less Resistance

Get your Consensus Candidate scorecards ready: George Bush is all set to nominate Michael B. Mukasey as Alberto Gonzales' replacement at Justice.

The stories were a drizzle over the weekend, and then Sunday evening became a torrent, so it is safe to say that this will be the guy. As Senate Democrats had thrown up a serious block on Ted Olson, another possible nominee, Mukasey seems like a candidate Bush can get in without the kind of nuclear confirmation proceedings we'd been expecting. Mukasey has also been on the judicial equivalent of the terrorism beat for many years, so he works out in more ways than one for a beleaguered Bush.

If you would like an interesting counterpoint in the form of some commentary that came out in the last few days, consider the following two works. In a speech on Thursday, Bush gave a speech with some harder language on Iran than has been the norm. Indeed, some of the thinking on the White House and its many newly-revealed factions has turned to a demonstrable divide within the administration on Iran, and whether Bush will engage in more aggressive military action right before he leaves.

The counterpoint I mentioned comes to us from General Wesley Clark, a friend of the show who penned an op-ed for the Washington Post concerning the Next War. When we had General Clark on the show, he minced no words in asserting that Cheney is driving this nation towards war with Iran, but the other possibilities Clark describes, both with Iran as a target and other scenarios with other nations, are not only unsettling but necessary considerations.

He also discusses, at some length, what is required from the military leadership of the United States:

At the same time, the United States' top generals must understand that their duty is to win, not just to get along. They must have the insight and character to demand the resources necessary to succeed -- and have the guts to either obtain what they need or to resign. If they get their way and still don't emerge victorious, they must be replaced. That is the lot they accepted when they pinned on those four shiny silver stars.

Would that I could argue against a perceived slip into an aggressive stance, once again, striking out at foreign nations despite enormous current commitments, but I cannot.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates was on TV yesterday arguing against Senator Jim Webb's plan to limit redeployment speed for troops, with Gates calling it a "back door effort" to bring the troops home and end the war in Iraq. This idea of Webb's is likely to be popular but you can probably bet that some Republican will try to filibuster it.

Speaking of Democratic candidates, how about the news that Texas citizens have donated almost as much to Democratic presidential candidates as Republican ones? Lubbock Online has it that Texans have forked over some $14 million to presidential candidates so far, and a little under half went to Democrats. I wouldn't have guessed it, but the proof is in the pudding, and at Lubbock Online.

In the wake of Humberto's sudden rise to hurricane levels, the concerns of many officials on the Valley's levee systems have, for lack of a better term, floated to the top in recent days. The widely-held opinion is that hurricane activity or activity of similar strength near the Rio Grande's mouth could be catastrophic, for reasons similar to what happened in New Orleans — the levees won't hold, or they will be overrun. If there was an example of something government could be proactive on and do something about, even if it comes only as a result of learning from the last disaster, this is it.