The Senate will be voting soon on the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. Republicans argue that Gonzales is a fine man who enjoys the confidence of President Bush and that the President should get to choose the members of his Cabinet. In addition they say, Gonzales is Hispanic and would add to the diversity of the Cabinet.
Democrats have been making the several arguments against Mr Gonzales.One is that Gonzales as the driving force behind the Bybee/Yoo memo which gave the opinion that the President as Commander In Chief is not bound by the Geneva convention or domestic laws for that matter. In addition, there is the matter of a certain lack of truth in written testimony regarding the 1996 jury duty that he helped George W Bush avoid. They argue that the combination of these two arguments more than demonstrate that Gonzales is unfit for the post as this nations highest ranked law enforcement officer. And to these I agree. This man should not be confirmed, but not just for those reasons.
There is another aspect to Gonzales that I believe makes him more unqualified to assume that office, his lack of a moral compass. One of the first stories that I heard about Gonzales was about the time he was counsel to then Governor Bush, and how he helped Bush to become America's leading executioner. One of the stories is about them spending 10 minutes over coffee going over a clemency request, before Bush denied it. The execution of another human got ten minutes over coffee. Another story was that a stay was denied even though they did not have the complete document. These stories, if they are true, taken with the Bybee/Yoo memos and the episode with the jury duty paint the picture of a man divorced from morality and humanity for the sake of pure expediency. The words of the Bybee/Yoo memos are chilling. The excerpts I read stood the hair up on the back of my neck. Here, truly is the "banality of evil" that Hanah Arendt wrote about in Eichmann in Jerusalem in balck and white. Now, this amoral automaton and expediter of evil is being considered for promotion rather than prosecution. So much for the "values administration". So much for the vaunted "values" of the GOP. As they stand on the Floor of the Senate and one by one give laudatory orations about the character of the man, they will be submerged to their necks in the swamp of hypocrisy. They conveniently forget that just seven years ago they stood in judgment of a President who fudged the truth about a blowjob from an intern. Where are the calls from that side of the aisle for truth and morality that then rang in those once proud chambers. They are gone, lost in the mists, conveniently forgotten in the relentless lust for power. And when they cast their votes for amorality and inhumanity, they and those few pathetic sheeplike allies who will cross the aisle to stand with them, will be revealed in all of their banal complicity.
But wait they say, all those other things aside, he is after all Hispanic, and if you vote no then you are a racist. Isn't this, after all, an example of the soft bigotry of low expectations that the President talks so much about. Proposing that an amoral Borg is the best they could find in the Hispanic community is simply insulting. The capacity for amorality and evil exists in all races. As such all present and future Alberto Gonzales's regardless of their color must be rejected whenever they emerge from their dark dwelling places .
How can you say these things?
Certainly a criminal's life is worth no more consideration than a cup of coffee. After all our president is clearly brilliant and very well-read.
Second is that torture of prisoners is clearly needed to combat terrrorism. In fact all Muslims need to be tortured or anybody that looks that way. All women in scarves included. They're not fooling me. Mini-marts are clearly fronts for terrorism. I can tell by their accents.
Third is that you are clearly racist. Anybody that takes a stand against a Black or Hispanic is clearly a racist KKK Nazi. You liberal commies don't fool me. This of course does not apply to Arabs and Muslims. Jesus would want them killed.
Fourth and final is that torture and execution are good business. Think of the money that could be made televising it! We could invade another country. I support it as a show on the FOX Network in thanks for being the only objective, true and fair source of news and quality programing.
Posted by: The mad doctor | January 28, 2005 at 11:22 AM