Judith Klinghoffer reminds us what a cold—hearted ambitious man Ramsey Clark really is, to the extent of forcing his father's resignation from the Supreme Court in order to (temporarily) advance his own career. A man who would betray his father would betray his country, it seems to me. It may well be the same pathology at work.

JOHNSON TOLD CLARK APPOINTMENT DEPENDS ON FATHER'S RESIGNATION

To understand the boundless ambition of Ramsey Clark one needs to recall that he became attorney general by getting his father to resign from the Supreme Court. It is all on a video tape played on Meet the Press on Oct. 9, 2005.

    MR. RUSSERT: A historical note, how it came to be that Justice Tom Clark retired from the Supreme Court at the relatively young age of 67. His departure was masterfully engineered by President Lyndon Baines Johnson himself. L.B.J. wanted the chance to appoint the first African—American to the Court, namely Thurgood Marshall. But there were no Court openings, so he cleverly set in motion a scheme to create one. You can hear L.B.J. laying the groundwork in this telephone conversation with Justice Clark's son, Ramsey, on January 25, 1967.

    (Audiotape, January 25, 1967):

    PRES. LYNDON JOHNSON: Do you think you could be attorney general with your daddy on the Court?

    MR. RAMSEY CLARK: Well, I think that——I guess other people ought to judge that, really. I know as far as I'm personally concerned, that that would not affect my judgment. I don't think it would affect Dad's judgment. I'd hate to see Dad get off the Court. I think he's at the height of his judicial power...

    PRES. JOHNSON: My judgment is that if you became attorney general, he'd have to leave the Court, for no other reason than the public appearance of the old man sitting on his boy's case and you tell me that the old man can judge it fairly when his own boy's sending them up?

Ed Lasky  12 07 05