NY Times Comes Out Against Gonzales

[ruggerson]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/26/opinion/26wed1.html

<snip>

The Wrong Attorney General

Published: January 26, 2005

Alberto Gonzales's nomination as attorney general goes before the Senate at a time when the Republican majority is eager to provide newly elected President Bush with the cabinet of his choice, and the Democrats are leery of exposing their weakened status by taking fruitless stands against the inevitable. None of that is an excuse for giving Mr. Gonzales a pass. The attorney general does not merely head up the Justice Department. He is responsible for ensuring that America is a nation in which justice prevails. Mr. Gonzales's record makes him unqualified to take on this role or to represent the American justice system to the rest of the world. The Senate should reject his nomination.

The biggest strike against Mr. Gonzales is the now repudiated memo that gave a disturbingly narrow definition of torture, limiting it to physical abuse that produced pain of the kind associated with organ failure or death. Mr. Gonzales's attempts to distance himself from the memo have been unconvincing, especially since it turns out he was the one who requested that it be written. Earlier the same year, Mr. Gonzales himself sent President Bush a letter telling him that the war on terror made the Geneva Conventions' strict limitations on the questioning of enemy prisoners "obsolete."

These actions created the legal climate that made possible the horrific mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners being held in Abu Ghraib prison. The Bush administration often talks about its desire to mend fences with the rest of the world, particularly the Muslim world. Making Mr. Gonzales the nation's chief law enforcement officer would set this effort back substantially.

<snip>

[autorank]

1. Times needs news page it's editorial page can be proud of!

Thanks for this very good news.

[alittlelark]

2. Of course they are.... he is the 'deal' made between the Dem's

and Rupugs.... You give us Rice, We'll squish Gonzales. And the Repukes will come out as 'Moral' bastions because they refused to vote him in.......

The NYT knows the scoop, and are playing it... Gonzales should be nervous about now.

Mark my words.

[ailsagirl]

3. Great news!!

I recall that, before the election, 157 newspapers from all over the country-- big and small (mostly large) endorsed Kerry.

Very, very few had the stupidity to back *

It's the damn TV that's the biggest thorn in our side!!