The more things change the more they stay the same -- Reflecting back on the eve of the confirmation hearings of Michael Mukasey.

In January 2005, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed relief that after John Ashcroft's four divisive years as attorney general, the nomination of Alberto Gonzales "appears to offer a different era."

(Quote from The Wall Street Journal. The title to this post is commentary on Ashcroft and Gonzales and not a prediction of how Mukasey will be.)