[link|http://www.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray111502.asp|Just so you know]

Excerpts:

Brushing aside the strenuous objections of the families of 9/11 victims and the parents of abducted American children, Democrats late Thursday pushed through the nomination of Maura Harty as head of the Consular Affairs (CA) bureau at the State Department. She was confirmed as the new assistant secretary of state for consular affairs as part of a compromise package that allowed conservatives to get simultaneous votes through on several judges and another State nominee...

With Congress poised to strip State of its visa authority, something had to be done. Powell offered up Ryan as a sacrifice \ufffd and one State official contends that Harty played a role in that move by "greasing the skids." Within two days of Ryan's "retirement," State sent Harty's name over to the White House. No other candidate was considered, let alone interviewed...

Families of 9/11 victims objected to Harty's role as a principal deputy at CA who supported the implementation of the "courtesy culture" and under whose watch many of the terrorists received visas. They were especially troubled by her refusal to read the visa-application forms of the 9/11 terrorists before he Senate confirmation hearing. Parents of American children abducted to foreign lands felt that Harty did very little, if anything, to help them when it was her primary job to do so. Conservatives took issue with Harty's apparent indifference to security concerns and the strong possibility that she will perpetuate the corrosive culture that has long infected State.

In the end, her critics couldn't overcome the secretary of state's lobbying. Powell spent more time pushing for Harty's nomination than those of all other State nominees combined. Even though a core group of conservative senators, led by Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, remained opposed to Harty's nomination, liberal Democrats \ufffd led by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) \ufffd achieved the upper hand by insisting that a whole slate of conservatives nominees, from judges to other State appointees, would be held up unless and until Harty was confirmed.

I say:

First fire the bitch, then prosecute for treason. Maybe Powell too.