Holy Schadenfreude!

From the video footage I've seen, it looks like AG Mike Mukasey is literally having a stroke at the podium.

Fortunately, it's been diagnosed as merely a "fainting spell" - he was released from the hospital today. Allegedly, tests have ruled out both stroke and heart attack and he's been listed as "very fit."

That said, the entire incident seems almost poetic...

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed during a speech Thursday night and lost consciousness, a Justice Department official
said.

The 67-year-old Mukasey was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where his condition was not immediately known.

Mukasey was delivering a speech to the Federalist Society at a Washington hotel when "he just started shaking and he collapsed," said Associate Attorney General Kevin O'Connor. "They're very concerned."

Mukasey was 15 to 20 minutes into his speech about the Bush administration's successes in combating terrorism when he began slurring his words.

He collapsed and lost consciousness, said O'Connor, the department's No. 3 official.

Mukasey's was noticeably shaking during his speech before he collapsed shortly before 10:20 p.m. EST. His security detail called 911.

Mukasey was on the stage for 10 minutes being attended to by his FBI detail before medics arrived, according to a Justice Department official who was there.

Now, I'm not one to believe in a higher power, but man! To be talking about the success of Bush Administration? Regarding terrorism?

It's like the proverbial lightening bolt reached out of the sky and smacked him upside the head.

I do feel for the guy's family. Watching that video and just imagining my Pop slurring his words and collapsing made me a bit queasy. But as he's been released and deemed healthy, I'm more than happy to turn the spotlight on the Attorney General.

You see, this is your current AG and former federal judge (appointed back in the Reagan era) who, in 2004, constantly defended the Patriot Act and doubted that the FBI would ever engage in racial profiling? Who's down with waterboarding? And unauthorized wiretapping? Who actually said the words (as a lawyer and retired federal judge), that, "...not every wrong, or even every violation of the law is a crime," when referring to the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales?

Maybe it wasn't a stroke.

Maybe it was just his conscience rebooting.