Former Justice Official Blasts Gonzales

[babylonsister]

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/washington/entries/2007/06/09/former_justice.html

Former Justice Official Blasts Gonzales

By Rebecca Carr | Saturday, June 9, 2007, 02:39 PM

As Senate Democrats press Republicans to support a no-confidence resolution against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales tomorrow, a former senior Justice Department official says the attorney general ran the department like “a political arm of the White House.”

Daniel J. Metcalfe, the former director of the Justice Department’s Office of Information and Privacy, said he resigned in January because he could no longer tolerate the “sheer political expediency, avoidance of individual responsibility, defensive personal aggrandizement, irresponsible ‘consensus’ decisionmaking (and) disregard for longstanding practices and principles.”

And that was before the controversy erupted over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys last year.

Metcalfe, who worked for the department during the the Nixon administration’s infamous “Saturday night massacre,” said the dismissals had been handled like nothing he has ever seen before.

“I think the way in which the firings themselves were handled was abominable, the way in which the ensuing controversy was handled was abysmal, and the way in which Gonzales has handled himself is absolutely appalling,” Metcalfe said. “As a long-term Justice Department official, I am embarrassed and increasingly incensed that he is still in there.”

Extensive excerpts from the interview are available at www.coxwashington.com

[scarletwoman]

1. I wish more former DOJ officials would speak up! I remember very clearly that several career lawyers

resigned after Gonzales took over.

Thanks for posting this -- recommended!

sw

[napi21]

2. I wonder if Conyers or Leahy will call Mecalfe to testify?

I know Gonzo is to testify again sometime this month. At SOME POINT, even the Pubs will have to admit Gonzo is an AH!

[Coexist]

3. don't be shy, Metcalfe, tell us how you feel!

Love it!

[HML]

4. We must destroy Alberto Gonzales

We must destroy Alberto Gonzales
(Politically speaking of course.)

Let’s face it, most voters are stupid, uninformed, and uneducated. Democracy is a hopelessly flawed system, but the illusion of democracy helps to keep the little people happy and make them feel empowered. Society would be better off if it were controlled by an enlightened and educated liberal elite (like us).

The right-wing Neocons are evil, conservatism is evil, corporations are evil, and profit is bad. Capitalism is bad too. We are justified in using all methods at our disposal to keep good progressive-minded people in power. The use of multiple votes, coerced votes from the cognitively challenged, coerced votes from the mentally challenged, and from felons too are all important to us. Coerced votes from “undocumented residents” are also essential to the survival of our movement, especially in close elections. The creative counting of votes in an election is also justified given the importance of our noble progressive political struggle.

Just look at the example of Washington State in the 2004 elections. If not for the bold and daring work of many dedicated Seattle area progressives, especially in the large King County (Seattle) area, Washington State would now not only have a Republican governor, but the state would have an honest and ethical governor as well. Such an event might have destroyed the powerful progressive political machine we have created in western Washington.

We must be careful not to acknowledge these election efforts publicly as it could destroy our advantage. When allegations of election cheating are made against our side, we should immediately claim that this is a nonexistent problem and just a smokescreen for Republican cheating. Always bring up the word Diebold in such discussions. Anytime harsher laws are proposed to prevent election tampering we must oppose them claiming they would disenfranchise legitimate voters, especially poor and minority voters. Remember this, whenever you can insert race into a discussion you can easily imply your opposition is racist, and thus win the argument.

Now comes the Shrub Justice Department under Alberto Gonzales. One of Shrub’s initiatives is to prosecute those caught tampering with elections. Shrub may be a stupid smirking chimp, but he knows that if tampering is discouraged to any great degree, the Republicans would gain a distinct advantage. The GOP Neocons do not have the same organized and concerted effort to win that we do. Cheating on behalf of the GOP is isolated, unorganized, and fragmented at best. They do not have the same fanatical desire to win, and most don’t feel it is right to cheat. The Neocons are too caught up in their Bible-thumping Christian conservative dogma to allow themselves to cheat in elections. We progressives are unencumbered by such silly notions of character and ethics. We are the early adopters of the modern concept of “situational ethics”.

Alberto Gonzales fired several US attorneys for not proactively prosecuting “election fraud” cases. We must destroy Alberto Gonzales before he can do any more damage. And we must be certain that his replacement will not attempt any similar election-cleanup jihad until we can put someone sympathetic to our progressive cause back in the White House.


(written by HML 6-10-07)

[HCE SuiGeneris]

5. Take the sleazeball out, and then start issuing and ENFORCING subpoenas...