Without proposing an alternative of his own, and as another sop to the Trent Lott Republicans he steamrolled last month, President Bush came out against the University of Michigan Law School's admissions policy today, claiming that the current system calls for quotas and makes race "the" factor in admissions.

Dick Gephardt will file an opposing brief. In the big scheme of things facing this country right now, it is hard to see, outside of pure, craven pandering to a base he pissed off last month, why the President feels it is important for the White House to weigh in on this. Apparently John Ashcroft had free time apart from INS illegal detentions, the on-the-loose Democrats-only anthrax terrorist, and his singing engagements.

To demonstrate his opposition against race-based actions and policies, Bush announced that he would ask Clarence Thomas to resign from the Supreme Court, withdraw the nominations of Alberto Gonzales and Miguel Estrada from considertion for federal appeals court consideration, and directed Bill Frist and the NRSC to broaden their previous voter suppression efforts beyond African-American precincts in future elections.

Soto