Last week, the Senate confirmed Cass Sunstein to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. Many pundits have described this position as President Obama’s “regulatory czar”, though the position is not one of Obama’s creation, and it isn’t a czar position, as the appointment requires Senate confirmation.

Debate before the vote was contentious, but not along the lines that might be expected. Ideological wires got crossed.

Before the nomination, Republicans and right wing publications had praised Sunstein. That’s because Sunstein advocated the kind of cost-benefit analysis that has been used to deny strong environmental, health and safety regulations. Corporations support this approach because it helps them save money by cutting corners, although the American people end up paying the price anyway.

Sunstein supported George W. Bush’s choice for Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and it’s Sunstein’s sort of analysis that led to Bush Administration decisions about how much raw sewage, arsenic or mercury in their drinking water people ought to accept. Sunstein’s approach rejects the idea that some things, like contamination of drinking water with raw sewage, are completely unacceptable, and asks instead how much raw sewage should be allowed in the water we drink. The presumption in this approach is that pollution will take place, and should be accepted – just with some limitation.

Some publications on the Right, such as Forbes Magazine, remained consistent, and continued to promote Cass Sunstein throughout the nomination. Most right wing opinion leaders turned against Sunstein, however, because they saw a fight against Sunstein as an opportunity to rally opposition to the Obama Administration as a whole. Sunstein became the target of many Republicans merely because Obama had nominated him.

These Republicans searched through Sunstein’s academic work to look for a pretense for opposition. They found their justification in a comment Sunstein had made, saying that it might be a good idea if hunting that was done merely for recreation rather than for food gathering might be outlawed. Right wing media personalities used this comment as a way to suggest that Sunstein, and the entire Obama Administration by association, would not respect the lives of regular folks.

These attacks managed to persuade some right wing Democrats to vote against Cass Sunstein. Mark Begich, Mark Pryor, Blanche Lincoln, James Webb and Ben Nelson cast votes against the nomination.

Other Democratic senators, on the other hand, supported Sunstein even though progressives have expressed concern about Sunstein’s sort of approach to regulation for years. These Democrats voted for Sunstein in order to express support for President Obama, rather than out of ideological consistency.

Most Republican senators voted for the sake of political expediency as well, though they voted in the opposite direction, against Sunstein’s confirmation. Just as some Democrats broke ranks, however, so did some Republicans. Michael Bennett, George Voinovich, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar voted in favor of confirming Sunstein.