We don't believe in speaking ill of the dead. But would Barbara Olson REALLY want to be remembered as hating the Clintons SO much that she attacked them from her grave? "After consulting with his late wife's closest friends, [Ted Olson] has given the greenlight to Regnery, the conservative publishing house, to proceed with plans to publish the manuscript Barbara Olson finished just before her death. Like her first book, 'Hell to Pay,' the new tome - entitled 'The Final Days: The Last Desperate Abuse of Power by the Clinton White House' - is a fierce attack on Bill and Hillary Clinton." C'mon Ted, let poor Barbara rest in peace.

"Kenneth Starr -- yes, that one -- has been hired as special counsel by Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the state's school-voucher appeal. Starr, the former special prosecutor who investigated President Clinton, is a partner with Kirkland & Ellis, a prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm." With Olson pushing the case as Solicitor General, Starr and Olson are joined again in another tag team effort. It brings back chilling memories of when Starr was investigating Clinton -- while Ted Olson worked behind the scenes first in Richard Mellon Scaife's Arkansas Project, and later with the Federalist Society 'elves' to trap Clinton in the Paula Jones deposition. This slap in the face is what the Senate Democrats get for caving on the Olson appointment, even after Olson perjured himself about his role in the Arkansas Project.

Throughout the Olson battle, conservatives were remarkably muted in their defense of Olson. Why? Because there IS no way to defend Olson - he lied to the Senate, plain and simple.

Ronald Burr was fired as publisher of the American Spectator for demanding an audit of the $2.4 million "Arkansas Project." Burr's friend and advisor, Ralph Lemley, says Olson lied to the Senate when he claimed he only learned of the Arkansas Project in 1997. "Ted Olson knew of the Arkansas Project, if not in name, then in its actions from the start... Ted Olson was an integral part of the project because his agreement in the winter of 1993-1994 to represent David Hale was a cornerstone of the project."

The Solicitor General is supposed to be someone of scrupulous honor and integrity. But in their penultimate act as a majority (the massive tax giveaway will be their final act), Senate Republicans rushed to confirm Ted Olson as Solicitor General, with the help of Zell Miller (D-GA) and Ben Nelson (D-NE). Olson was one of the masterminds of the Arkansas Project, but he lied about it to the Senate. The new Democratic Senate should cite Olson for contempt of Congress!

"Whitewater figure David Hale lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday. He had asked the justices to cancel his conviction and sentence for lying to state regulators about the solvency of his insurance company. The high court, without comment, declined to hear Hale's complaint that he was wrongly prosecuted in Arkansas after an independent counsel cut a deal for his testimony against former President Clinton and others." It looks like the Federalist Society team of Rehnquist, Scalia, Thomas and Kennedy decided that there was no point in even going near the Richard Mellon Scaife-funded Arkansas Project that provided aid and comfort to David Hale. After all, Ted Olson played a key role in the Arkansas Project -- as well as being Hale's attorney. Now that Olson is up for Solicitor General, his pals on the Supreme Court surely don't want to do anything that might further jeopardize the chances of their Fed-Soc brother becoming the "10th Supreme Court Justice."

"In the Senate and in the media, conservatives are saying that Olson's nomination is being held up not because his candor is in question but because it's payback time for what was done to Clinton. They act as if it would be illegitimate to hold Olson accountable for his part in the near-destruction of a presidency, the breathtaking invasion of Clinton's privacy (Whom have you slept with, Mr. Olson?), not to mention the very serious matter of how the barrier to impeachment has been so lowered it is just another political device (see Clinton lawyer David Kendall in the New Mexico Law Review). But what's wrong with payback -- to put it more politely, accountability? After all, what's at issue is not Olson's masterful representation of Bush but his association in a squalid and destructive attempt to abort a presidency by almost any means." So writes Richard Cohen in the Washington Post.

Right-wing defenders of Ted Olson claim that the "Arkansas Project" was just all-American journalism, and Olson's only role was to shut it down. But Joe Conason shows that Scaife's $2.4 million wasn't used for writing, but rather for paying agents to engage in dirty tricks against journalists and judges. And who was the lawyer providing advise for these dirty tricks? Ted Olson, of course. We demand a thorough Senate investigation!

Ted Olson represented Bush in his efforts to stop the Florida recount. During his closing arguments before Judge Donald Middlebrooks, Olson misrepresented Texas law on a critical point. Texas law allows punch cards to be counted if: "3) an indentation on the chad from the stylus or other object is present and indicates a clearly ascertainable intent of the voter to vote; or 4) the chad reflects by other means a clearly ascertainable intent of the voter to vote." Thus, Texas law is similar to Florida's subjective "intent of the voter" standard. But Olson withheld that crucial information from the Courts. He should be cited for contempt of court - like Clinton - not appointed as Solicitor General!

In 1998, Salon ran a number of stories investigating Olson's relationship with the right-wing magazine American Spectator, under whose auspices the Arkansas Project was run, and the circumstances under which he came to provide pro-bono legal representation for key Whitewater witness David Hale. Salon's reporting refutes many of the statements made by Olson at his confirmation hearing and in his subsequent written responses and raises serious questions about his fitness for the office of solicitor general. Despite his evasive disavowals, Salon investigations showed the right-wing consigliere was deeply involved in a sordid plot to bring down President Clinton.