Standing down

Tim Griffin is the guy the Bushies appointed to be U.S. Attorney in Arkansas after they fired Bud Cummins. He's now said he won't stand for confirmation in the Senate, but this sounds to me like a non-stand-down stand-down:

Tim Griffin, whose December appointment as U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas sparked a national outcry about surreptitious changes made to a law affecting federal prosecutors, says he no longer wants the job permanently.

“I have made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate,” Griffin said Thursday evening.

... Griffin said Thursday that if he were to go through the confirmation process, “I don’t think there is any way I could get fair treatment by Sen. Pryor or others on the judiciary committee.”

He said he will continue to serve in the top law enforcement position in the state’s eastern district as long as the White House keeps him there under the interim title or “gets someone else that I can help transition into this job.

“ But to submit my name to the Senate would be like volunteering to stand in front of a firing squad in the middle of a three-ring circus.”

Under the new law that our great friend and pal, Arlen Specter, snuck in last year, interim appointments can last forever. I guess the question is whether Gonzales will stick by his promise to submit all appointments to the Senate or not. My guess is that there will be a long, long, long delay while the search around for a replacement. My heavens, it may even take two years.