Oh, ick!

He didn't really say that, did he? Podhoretz on the Miers nomination:

I think this was a pick made out of droit de seigneur -- an "I am the president and this is what I want" arrogance. I think he'll get what he wanted. Which means there will be at least two people -- Bush and Harriet Miers -- who will be delighted on the day she is sworn in.

Wikipedia on Droit de Seigneur:

The jus primae noctis meaning 'law (or right) of the first night,' and droit du seigneur meaning 'the lord's right', is the purported right of the lord of an estate to deflower its virgins.

Somehow, I don't want to think about how delighted they'll both be, John. Talk about Unwanted Mental Image...!!

Sounds like Athena at the Clue Factory was right tho':

What we see here is nothing so advanced and 19th Century as cronyism.

The correct term for a system where someone gains a position due strictly to their complete and total allegiance, not to a nation, a party, a cause, an organization, but to a specific individual -- is Feudalism.