Mark makes a great point. So far the only appointment that was a clear-cut sop to the Right — John Ashcroft — was also, in my opinion, his best pick in retrospect. Ashcroft was a much better AG than Gonzales and he allowed Bush to seem moderate by comparison. Now there are no objective conservative/rightwingers in the administration for Bush to triangulate off of. And, I agree that the Bush I retreads are not what Bush II needs right now, even if Robert Gates may turn out to be a good pick.