I don't remember if I posted much, or any, about it, but the things Ashcroft was being attacked for had nothing to do with his ability or inability to do the job. He isn't a racist, he isn't a fascist, he isn't a Bible-thumping fundamentalist. On the other hand, I have no doubt that he still has a boner from the USA Act (but then what AG wouldn't? Except for Twirp Reno.)

His opponents would have had a lot more credibility if they'd been willing and able to point to specific examples of incompetancy or favoritism.

Besides all that, I doubt he had much personal involvement in this settlement anyway; he's got other things on his plate. I would not be surprised to learn that he didn't tell the people involved in these "negotiations" to play nice.

And realistically, if there was to be any negotiated settlement, do you think Microsoft would have agreed to anything more than this? I'm actually surprised they agreed to what is in the settlement. There are more things than "be nice to Microsoft" going on here; imagine the career path of a lawyer in the currently Politically Correct environment who throws the mess back into the judge's court while saying "we couldn't work out a settlement".