TIME: GOP Put Under Pressure on Gonzales

[L. Coyote]

GOP Put Under Pressure on Gonzales
30 minutes ago By AP/LAURIE KELLMAN
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1631408,00.html



Majority Democrats in the Senate are forcing their Republican colleagues on the record about whether embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should keep his job.

No one is predicting that a symbolic resolution expressing no confidence in Gonzales will survive even the test vote Monday. Most Republicans are likely to vote no, dismissing the whole exercise as a ploy to embarrass President Bush.

At a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop on a weeklong visit to Europe, the president reaffirmed his support for Gonzales, a longtime friend and legal adviser.

"They can have their votes of no-confidence but it's not going to make the determination about who serves in my government," Bush said Monday. "This process has been drug out a long time. ... It's political."

Still, few of the Senate's 100 members are rushing to defend Gonzales. ......

[L. Coyote]

1. NY TIMES: The Senate Confronts a Gonzales Vote

June 11, 2007, 30 minutes ago
The Senate Confronts a Gonzales Vote
By Carl Hulse
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/the-senate-confronts-a-gonzales-vote/

Senate Democrats will try today to force a vote of “no confidence” in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. But Republicans are confident that they can defeat the maneuver.

In a bit of political theater, Democrats have set a procedural vote as a prelude to considering a resolution expressing Senate dissatisfaction with the attorney general for a variety of actions, including the firing of federal prosecutors and the handling of national security matters.

“Each and every senator will have to ask what’s more important - fixing the basic functioning of the Justice Department and upholding the rule of law, or voting in lockstep with a president who’s out of touch with the serious problems in his administration,” Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the sponsor of the no-confidence plan, said Sunday. “ I hope we get strong, bipartisan support for this measure because the president would be hard pressed to ignore such a powerful message.”

But Republicans believe they will be able to deny Democrats the 60 votes necessary to overcome the procedural hurdle, though they are pointedly saying that position should not be read as an endorsement of the attorney general’s performance.

“This is totally political,” Senator Jon Kyl, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate ....

====================================
Yeah, Kyl, the DoJ has been turned into a political ARM!

[L. Coyote]

2. NPR: Senate Vote May Not Dislodge Gonzales LISTEN online

Politics
Senate Vote May Not Dislodge Gonzales
Listen to this story... by Juan Williams and Renee Montagne
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10931824


Morning Edition, June 11, 2007 · The Senate is preparing to vote on a resolution expressing "no confidence" in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. But the symbolic vote will not necessarily make it more likely that Gonzales will leave office anytime soon.

[soothsayer]

3. Good! Force them to stake a stand. and go on the record.

[dennis4868]

4. "my government?"

That's funny...I thought it was OUR government....

[Kagemusha]

6. That's a needless nitpick.

It's his administration and cabinet. It's not some atrocious improper use of the language.

[Merlot]

7. bushco is a needless nitpick

When I read that statement, I took notice of the "my" as well. Though maybe technically correct, it sounds wrong.

me! me! mine! mine! mine!

[kimmylavin]

8. I disagree.

Noting where the statement is coming from, it is atrocious.
We all know what Bush thinks of the lowly masses, and it is not that he is in some way beholden to us.

[Kagemusha]

10. The President is also an American, so it's his government too.

I know people like to say, oh, he's not MY President, but I've always disagreed with that attitude. To Iraqis being bombed by the USAF, he's your President.

As for being beholden, he said he had an accountability moment in 2004. And look what happened. Sure, gripe, but that doesn't change the fact of the matter.

[burythehatchet]

11. It most certainly is NOT a needless nitpick.

It is his administration, or more properly his regime. The government is his only in terms of his ability to thoroughly destroy every aspect of the government that is designed to help and defend the people.

Take this fucker's allowance away and send him to time out at The Hague.

[Toots]

14. While it may be his Administration it certainly is not his Government

And by drawing attention to his "slip of the tongue" is certainly not nit picking. The man is supposed to be the President of the United States of America for Christ's sake the very least he could do is use correct grammer. It is just one more glaring example of his lessoning of the office..

[L. Coyote]

13. I heard the audio and it was MY government, emphasis on his branch of the tree.

It did not sound right when I listened to it. There was a hesitation on his part as he was deciding what to call it. He should have said MY Presidency instead. But, hey, we all know he was just talking, not reading the stuff they write for him, so we have to bear in mind all that comes with him just talking. Don't expect perfection, and expect a more accurate reflection of his true attitude. MINE!

[L. Coyote]

5. ILLEGALITIES: Immigration Judges Often Picked Based On GOP Ties

Immigration Judges Often Picked Based On GOP Ties
Law Forbids Practice; Courts Being Reshaped
By Amy Goldstein and Dan Eggen - WA POST
DU Thread/Discussion here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1086828

The Bush administration increasingly emphasized partisan political ties over expertise in recent years in selecting the judges who decide the fate of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, despite laws that preclude such considerations, according to an analysis by The Washington Post.

At least one-third of the immigration judges appointed by the Justice Department since 2004 have had Republican connections or have been administration insiders, and half lacked experience in immigration law .....

[tyedyeto]

9. I thought it was a Repug who is introducing the vote

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1085391

:shrug:

[gratuitous]

12. Poor Bush, the process has been drug out a long time!

Mostly due to the fact that Bush's appointees all develop amnesia as soon as they lower their right hand, after swearing to tell the truth before congressional committees. If your people would just testify truthfully to what they know, Mr. President, this "process" would have been tidied up months ago.

[Alexander]

15. "Drug" out? Isn't the proper word "dragged" out?

I wonder what's on Bushie boy's mind.

[L. Coyote]

16. You can be the one to tell him! Back to high school, dude!