Bush Defies Democrats With 3 Appointments – New York Times

President Bush used Congress’s Easter break today to defy Democratic lawmakers and appoint three officials who have already drawn heavy criticism on Capitol Hill…

Naming the three while Congress is in recess allows Mr. Bush to avoid the Senate confirmation process. The recess appointments allow the three to remain in their posts until the end of 2008, virtually the end of Mr. Bush’s second term.

This was the last straw for me today.

Past presidents have used the recess appointment power before. Clinton famously did it to appoint the first openly gay U.S. ambassador, to Luxemburg, over Republican objections. (Interestingly enough, one of today’s recess appointments is the ambassadorship to neighboring Belgium. Bush appointed Sam Fox, who gave $50,000 to the anti-Kerry “Swift Boat Veterans” group in 2004.)

But on top of everything else Bush is doing, this put me over the edge. It’s not enough that he has to be an ass regarding the Iraqi civil war – using totally unhelpful phrases today such as “pure evil” and defying the will of the American people. No; on top of that, he has to go ahead and pull a stunt like this.

Not that I should be at all surprised.

GOD, I can’t wait until 1/20/09.