Smoothville Express

When Bill Richardson pulled out, MK Ham quipped, "The Obama transition train just keeps on chugging down the tracks to Smoothville, huh?" And the Smoothville Express just keeps on a-chugging:

Eric H. Holder Jr. is facing increasing resistance to his bid to become the next attorney general, emerging from President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet nominees as the prime target of Senate Republicans, both because of troubling episodes during his service in the Clinton administration and because of the sensitivity of the post overseeing the Justice Department. . . .
Specter previewed the main line of attack in a floor speech this week, asserting that, in Holder's years as President Bill Clinton's deputy attorney general, he at times "appeared to be serving the interest of his superiors" rather than heeding recommendations from career Justice Department lawyers. The argument echoed criticism that former attorney general Alberto R. Gonzales, who resigned in 2007, had acted to please his friend President Bush rather than to uphold the principles of justice.

(H/T: Hot Air.) I don't know who's calling the plays in the Senate GOP huddle, but having Specter take the ball on this one is very smart. Specter can't be credibly accused of being a right-wing ideologue or a partisan hit man. Now, if the Republicans on the Foreign Relations Committee can find somebody willing to be point-man on Hillary's nomination as Secretary of State, we might be in for a few weeks of real fun.

Chug, chug, chug . . .