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Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass

By Jeralyn, Section Other Politics
Posted on Thu Jan 06, 2005 at 11:36:07 PM EST
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Some media write-ups of Alberto Gonzales' confirmation hearing Thursday suggest he got a pass. As Salon puts it:

As the protest against Bush's certification fell flat and they rolled over for Gonzales, it was a day of humiliation and futility for Democrats.

More reaction: The Washington Post calls it a "senate grilling without much heat."

In a plain, windowless chamber, the 12 men in a half-circle swivel in their fat leather chairs, refresh each other with refills of water, soak in a warm bath of mutual admiration.

They put Gonzales, who is looking up at them from a few feet away, at ease by calling him "Al." One senator begins a criticism by saying, "I love you, but . . ." The senators compliment each other for being "fine lawyers," even when the subject at hand is whether Gonzales approved a memo condoning "waterboarding," an interrogation technique in which a detainee is strapped to a board and pushed underwater to make him think he might drown.

....Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) announces early on that -- despite any appearance of hostility -- none of them actually plans to vote against Gonzales and they all know he will be confirmed.

Here are some of Alberto Gonzales' responses today to issues other than torture.

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    Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass | 15 comments (15 topical)
    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#1)
    by Andreas on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 01:12:31 AM EST
    Gonzales’s nomination signals that the Bush administration is determined to expand the power of the presidency and intensify the assault on constitutional rights and international law. That Gonzales will almost certainly be confirmed with the support of large sections of the Democratic Party exposes the lack of serious commitment to democratic rights within any section of the ruling establishment.
    Gonzales hearings: Senate to confirm defender of torture as US attorney general By Joseph Kay, 7 January 2005

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#2)
    by wg on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 05:30:45 AM EST
    Domestically I don't see that much danger in having him approved, he appears sufficiently spineless. Expect DoJ to coast along under him in lingering Ashcroftian vapors for the next four years. Better this than another Ashcroft term. Besides isn't it cute to have a Mexican far smarter and speaking far more grammatical and coherent English than his Texas boss. The real problem is with the perception abroad. The administration had the best chance so far to come clean on this torture/abuse business and refused to do so. It is quite clear now with this nomination to everybody outside this country that they do actually consider torture part of their new world order. Despite all the recent verbiage to the contrary. Not good. Democratic humiliation for Democrats? Let's be realistic. First the numbers weren't there and besides (most) Senate Democrats aren't political dummies. The calculation is obvious, voting against a Latino nominee would kill their chances for reelection in the next round. That electorate is growing in strength (40% in CA) , and most of them couldn't care less about what FBI, CIA, DOD do to some Arabs or Asians in far away places. Abuse or not. They have enough problems locally as it is. Nothing new here. Getting one of theirs installed is some position of power is more important than some foreign torture business. Democrats put sufficiently good enough show under the circumstances.

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#3)
    by scarshapedstar on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 07:52:39 AM EST
    Maybe they ought to grill him like they do in Guantanamo.

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 09:00:39 AM EST
    Left I on the News: "Gag me with a spoon - or a Democrat"

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:15:05 AM EST
    Practice makes perfect. -C

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 10:56:45 AM EST
    WG i didn't realize AG was "a Mexican". I though the Atty Gen would have to be "an American." Get it?

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#7)
    by Ed Drone on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 11:03:56 AM EST
    What I can't get is why no one plays the "hispanic card" by pointing out that he came from poor immigrant roots, and rose to power and prominence by attaching himself to a rich white guy's ass. Ed

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 02:02:21 PM EST
    Salon's aside, yesterday was a HUGE accomplishment for reversing the $R vote fraud arrangement. The lack of news coverage of what is happening around the country as people realize that they haven't had a legal election in four years, and won't unless something is done, gives the false impression Salon and others are busily creating. IF there was coverage, yesterday would have been a crack in the Bush vote fraud wide enough to drive an unarmored Humvee through. But because the Dems didn't line up for the litmus test, anti-dem. leftists and the spinners at Salon are polishing up their cranky refusal to understand that the people to blame are ones who put Gonzales or Rice up for tasks they are CLEARLY not qualified for. It's a fake government, and with 20% of the electorate polled as not accepting the results, and another 40% ready at any point to hear that their votes were stolen, the Clown Bus full of traitors is already limping. How to fix that? Dial 911-2. --

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#9)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 02:35:06 PM EST
    yeah what "wg" said...

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#10)
    by desertswine on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 02:48:30 PM EST
    What I can't get is why no one plays the "hispanic card" by pointing out that he came from poor immigrant roots, and rose to power and prominence by attaching himself to a rich white guy's ass.
    Abu Gonzales was born in San Antonio. That makes him not an immigrant. His parents were not immigrants either.

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Jan 07, 2005 at 06:02:01 PM EST
    Paul, take your meds. Andreas, aren't your posts torture enough?

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 02:59:54 AM EST
    A big hook around your neck, Ace. You bring nothing to the discussion except for attempted deraillment. Ken Lay and Osama bin Laden -- still out walking around, having sex with camels and two-bit aristocrats, snoring, chewing bubblegum, while: 3,000 people dead in NYC. 100,000 people dead in Iraq. 1,350 soldiers dead; another hundred in Afghanistan where the US military let ObL escape. Ace, you're in a bathtub full of blood up to your eyeballs. Don't waste a lot of time on this hip flip dismissal game. It's not washing. --

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#13)
    by Andreas on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 03:20:00 AM EST
    The hearings had a farcical character. There was a pretense of “tough questioning” for the nominee, whom, as everyone present was well aware, is deeply complicit in war crimes. No one was “tough” enough to suggest that Gonzales should be behind bars rather than occupying the chief law enforcement position in the US. Nor did a single Democrat even go so far as to declare that Bush’s lawyer should be denied the nomination.
    Gonzales nomination hearing: US Senate welcomes a war criminal By Bill Van Auken, 8 January 2005

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 12:25:55 PM EST
    "Ace, you're in a bathtub full of blood up to your eyeballs." Paul, is this your idea of "bringing something to the discussion"? [Dr. Ace, you're over limit for today. Feel free to come back tomorrow.]

    Re: Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Jan 08, 2005 at 03:36:52 PM EST
    I'm with you wg...that Gonzales hearing was no humiliation for the Dems...it was a humiliation for Gonzales and his sponsors. No one said the object of the Dems could have been to derail the nomination totally...they probably didn't have the votes to do that and will have bigger fish to fry (or filibuster), like some troglodyte Supreme Court nominees or other federal judges with lifetime appointments. I thought Sens. Leahy and Kennedy and that Rep from SC Graham (?) did a wonderful job of trying to pin Gonzales down, and he did a horrible job, just stonewalling and refusing to answer the questions directly instead of spinning them better in a lawyerlike way. It was pretty clear that "Judge" Gonzales was helped a lot more by affirmitive action and shrewd kissing up than by any kind of top-notch Hahvaaaard elite legal education. Gonzales' testimony would have had him hanging from a scaffold at Nuremburg if the same rules applied.

    Press: Gonzales Gets a Pass | 15 comments (15 topical)