Not that it makes any difference to anyone here, but George Orwell (Eric Blair) has always been one of my heroes. I'd hang his picture in my office.
Orwell wrote about what he believed in and he fought for what he wrote about, in his novels, in his memoirs, and in his countless essays. His life reflected his art and vice versa.
Do I understand the irony of a member of the Bush administration hanging a poster of the man who brought us 1984? Of course I do. But the fact is there is no single person I would rather have an Attorney General look up to than George Orwell. The man embodies everything I would like to see an Attorney General aspire to. I'll explain briefly below.
Updated below
In Down and Out in Paris and London Orwell works for subsistence wages in two of the great world capitals to write firsthand about the experience of poverty. And it isn't pretty. When his dishwashing job goes south, he ends up homeless and starving. He was a crusader against poverty in a way that none of our current political heroes will ever be.
In Homage to Catalonia Orwell documents his experiences fighting against Franco's fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War. He wasn't there as a writer. He was there as a soldier and a person of conscience. He was shot in the neck. This was not your typical "embedded journalist".
And, of course, in 1984 (one of his few works of fiction) he lays out the blueprints for a nightmarish totalitarian future. Animal Farm, the other notable work of fiction, was an allegorical attack on Stalinism.
Look, I don't know if Mukasey is the best person to be standing guard over Orwell's legacy, but I don't see anything wrong with the fact that the new AG is going to have the ghost of Eric Blair looking over his shoulder as he goes about his business of policing the American state. In fact, I can't think of any single person I'd rather have an Attorney General looking up to.
Come to think of it, I kinda hope Keith Olbermann (whom I also greatly respect) hangs a picture of George Orwell in his office. Now THAT was a journalist.
Update
Read them online: 1984. Animal Farm. Down and out in Paris and London. Homage to Catalonia. Essay: Politics and the English Language. Essay: How the Poor Die. Complete works available online at this site.