Chuckie's Having Regrets

Captain Ed tells us that Chuckie Schumers ringing endorsement of Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey has suddenly become decidedly less ringing:

President Bush's choice of Michael Mukasey, a retired judge from New York who has received the support of Senator Schumer, to be the next attorney general signals that the White House wishes to avoid a Senate confirmation battle.
Still, it is unclear whether Mr. Schumer is willing to shepherd Judge Mukasey through confirmation hearings whose main topic could shape up to be the politicization of the Justice Department during Attorney General Gonzales's tenure.

Mr. Schumer, one of the Senate's fiercest critics of Mr. Gonzales, has long touted Judge Mukasey for a position higher than the district court judgeship he held for 19 years. In 2003, the senator recommended the judge as an eventual successor to Chief Justice Rehnquist on the Supreme Court. Earlier this year, he floated Judge Mukasey's name for the attorney general position.

In a statement issued last night, the senator was somewhat guarded. "For sure we'd want to ascertain his approach on such important and sensitive issues as wiretapping and the appointment of US attorneys, but he's a lot better than some of the other names mentioned and he has the potential to become a consensus nominee," the statement said.

The Captain adds a little background on Schumer's endorsement:

Uncle Chuck changed his mind? Just two years ago, Schumer pushed Mukasey as a contender for the William Rehnquist seat on the Supreme Court. The liberal group Alliance for Justice joined him in endorsing Mukasey as an alternative to John Roberts. Schumer called him a "consensus candidate", and AJ said it would be a "conciliatory act".

It looks like Bush called Schumer's bluff and how now put the New York Senator in the tough spot of having to eat his words if he wants to try and politicize this guy and fight his nomination. I'm still more than a little bit concerned about the liberal endorsements of this guy in the past, but if his nomination causes some liberals to squirm, it might be worth taking a chance on this guy for the relatively short remaining months of the Bush administration.