Word: norton
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...controversial Cabinet nominee cases, from Chavez to John Ashcroft to Gale Norton, Democratic senators were telling the outside groups opposing those nominations that they had to have a smoking gun in order to pick off a nominee. In Chavez's case, they got the smoking gun. Each one of those three, from a Democratic point of view, is polarizing, partisan and objectionable, but that would not be enough to actually defeat their nomination. They made clear that to defeat a nominee there had to be something in the past to tip it over - a Nannygate, or an objectionable statement...
...Apparently Senate collegiality will get John Ashcroft safely through to the post of attorney general, and I would guess Gale Norton will make it as secretary of the interior, despite the taint of her having been a protégée of James Watt, the egregious lulu who served as Ronald Reagan's interior secretary; Watt did not worry much about the environment, since he believed that the biblical Armageddon was just around the corner and would presently moot all controversies over oil drilling, logging and other worldly trifles...
...With the next nominee, the pothole of controversy goes a bit deeper, and could cause some serious damage. Gale Norton, the interior secretary-designate, faces fierce opposition from environmental groups for her well-documented interest in opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and her belief that protected lands should be open for "multiple uses" like logging or industry...
...unfortunately for Norton, her most vociferous reference could end up hurting her the most. President Reagan's contentious interior secretary, James Watt, calls her "a great gal who has come into her own," according to the Washington Post, and describes himself as her "sponsor." That's music to anti-Norton forces' ears; Watt was widely reviled for what opponents felt was a slash-and-burn approach to environmentally sensitive land...
...Prediction: Some pundits say Norton could be the GOP's second sacrificial lamb - an easily replaced functionary who, like Chavez, isn?t not worth the political capital it would take to defend...