Reaching Out to Dems - Bushit

[Scarletwine]

Gonzales Expected to Be Bush's Attorney General Pick

http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/elections/article.adp?id=20041109180709990012

WASHINGTON (Nov. 10) -- President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and the most prominent Hispanic in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.

The White House hinted that formal word from the president could come later Wednesday. ''I would not rule out an announcement today,'' White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.

...
Gonzales has been at the center of developing Bush's positions on balancing civil liberties with waging the war on terrorism - opening the White House counsel to the same line of criticism that has dogged Ashcroft.

For instance, Gonzales publicly defended the administration's policy - essentially repudiated by the Supreme Court and now being fought out in the lower courts - of detaining certain terrorism suspects for extended periods without access to lawyers or courts.

He also wrote a controversial February 2002 memo in which Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture law and international treaties providing protections to prisoners of war. That position drew fire from human rights groups, which said it helped led to the type of abuses uncovered in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal.

Some conservatives also have quietly questioned Gonzales' credentials on core social issues. And he once was a partner in a Houston law firm which represented the scandal-ridden energy giant Enron.
...

One can only hope the Dems stay strong on this one and Bush has to use his supposed political capital in this fight. Ashcroft should have never been approved in the first place. Can you say filibuster!

 

[sharky]

This guy is sooooo bad. Among Gonzales's many "accomplishments":

-- said it was ok to violate Geneva Convention with regards to Gitmo
-- said it was ok to ignore international law and torture inmates at Abu Graib
-- as AG of Texas, said he was proud of so many deaths under the death penalty while he was there
-- was investigated during Plame scandal when name of CIA agent was leaked to the press, violating laws against traitors to the U.S.
-- was counsel for Enron when the company went under and defended it in court

How anyone can support this guy's nomination is beyond me. You're proud of killing people under the death penalty? Even most death penalty supporters see it as a sorrowful last resort, not a "Cool, higher body count!" deal.

 

[Se7en]

booo hissssss

sounds like he'll fit right in.

 

[Golightly Grrl]

I think I'm going to vomit. And I thought Ashcroft was bad.

 

[Dreadsox]

I am proud that the President is reaching out to include minorities in his cabinet.

 

[strannix]

I am proud that the President is reaching out to include minorities in his cabinet.

I agree. That's why I'm holding out hope that Bush will patch things up with Saddam and appoint him to the Supreme Court. After all, there's never been an Arab Justice before.

 

[sharky]

I am proud that the President is reaching out to include minorities in his cabinet.

I don't care if the guy is white, black or green. If he is bad for the job, he is bad for the job. Colin Powell didn't become Secretary of State because he was black.

As Thurgood Marshall said about Clarence Thomas's appointment "A black snake will bite you just the same as a white snake."

 

[dazzledbylight]

one of the frikking points of the geneva convention on torture is...
....in a way the way The Dali Lama speaks- if you can't do something for someone out of compassion, then do it for your own "enlighted self-interest".

Our armed forces personel will now be subjected to even worse tortures than what they might go through now [not even bringing up the beheadings in this point], because Team Bush has openly adopted this position.

 

[diamond]

i dont understand why the Dems reject the will of the ppl.

db9

 

[strannix]

i dont understand why the Dems reject the will of the ppl.

db9

Funny, I don't remember Alberto Gonzales being on any ballot.

And besides, once "the will of the ppl." starts endorsing torture, it needs to be rejected. Or perhaps you dig that kind of stuff.

 

[diamond]

?

 

[Sherry Darling]

Diamond, "the people" have not endorsed torture. And if they do, there will must not be done. Any Christian must value human rights.

Peace,
SD

 

[strannix]

Speaking of "the will of the ppl." ....

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

"the people" have not endorsed torture. And if they do, there will must not be done.

I agree that it's wonderful to have a minority in this position, but I was hoping for a "kinder, gentler" Attorney General

 

[A_Wanderer]

Article 4

A. Prisoners of war, in the sense of the present Convention, are persons belonging to one of the following categories, who have fallen into the power of the enemy:

1. Members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces.

2. Members of other militias and members of other volunteer corps, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a Party to the conflict and operating in or outside their own territory, even if this territory is occupied, provided that such militias or volunteer corps, including such organized resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:

(a) That of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates;
(b) That of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance;
(c) That of carrying arms openly;
(d) That of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war.

3. Members of regular armed forces who profess allegiance to a government or an authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.

4. Persons who accompany the armed forces without actually being members thereof, such as civilian members of military aircraft crews, war correspondents, supply contractors, members of labour units or of services responsible for the welfare of the armed forces, provided that they have received authorization from the armed forces which they accompany, who shall provide them for that purpose with an identity card similar to the annexed model.

5. Members of crews [of civil ships and aircraft], who do not benefit by more favourable treatment under any other provisions of international law.

6. Inhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units, provided they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war.

B. The following shall likewise be treated as prisoners of war under the present Convention:

1. Persons belonging, or having belonged, to the armed forces of the occupied country...

...

Where in occupied territory an individual protected person is detained as a spy or saboteur, or as a person under definite suspicion of activity hostile to the security of the Occupying Power, such person shall, in those cases where absolute military security so requires, be regarded as having forfeited rights of communication under the present Convention.

In each case, such persons shall nevertheless be treated with humanity and, in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed by the present Convention. They shall also be granted the full rights and privileges of a protected person under the present Convention at the earliest date consistent with the security of the State or Occupying Power, as the case may be.

 

[Dreadsox]

Dude....don't disrupt the bashing with facts.....please....

 

[A_Wanderer]

So when does the Guantanamo Gulag begins interning all liberals, pro-choicers and homosexuals?

 

[nbcrusader]

You wouldn't want an Attorney General to read, understand and apply the law now, would you?

 

[verte76]

Funny, I don't remember Alberto Gonzales being on any ballot.

And besides, once "the will of the ppl." starts endorsing torture, it needs to be rejected. Or perhaps you dig that kind of stuff.

Yes. I'm appalled at the guy's position on torture. I can't believe it. Color me outraged.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

There's the "law" then there's morality and decency, and there's what the US professes to stand for.

Nothing justified what went on at Abu Ghraib, and nothing will ever change my mind about that. I'm not saying anyone else here "endorses" what went on there, just to make that clear.

 

[Dreadsox]

If someone can prove to me there is a link between this man and what went on in that prison I will be the first one to stand up and call for the congress to not approve him.

Quotes, taken out of context, for the purpose of inciting people against him are not fair.

I have not reached an opinion on him because I have not done my own homework on him......

 

[diamond]

is it the will of the ppl that GW was elected?
being that he was elected..does he have the right to appoint ppl?

thx
db9

 

[nbcrusader]

Yes. I'm appalled at the guy's position on torture. I can't believe it. Color me outraged.

Could we please have some evidence that Alberto Gonzales endorces torture, aside from Sharky's own interpretation of his beliefs?

 

[Sherry Darling]

Sure thing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38894-2004Jun13.html

SD

 

[U2democrat]

I don't care if the guy is white, black or green. If he is bad for the job, he is bad for the job. Colin Powell didn't become Secretary of State because he was black.

As Thurgood Marshall said about Clarence Thomas's appointment "A black snake will bite you just the same as a white snake."

I was going to say that but you beat me to it! We need to get to the point where we look past race and focus on qualifications.

 

[Dreadsox]

So you would oppose affirmative action then?

 

[A_Wanderer]

I see nothing wrong with that - in very, very particular circumstances to cause brief and intense pain to a single guilty man that he may stop at any moment by releasing critical information is better than sitting back and waiting for thousands to be murdered.

This type of santioned torture must have total oversight and endorsement because like it or not it will probably wind up happening, and if it does then there must be accountability.

 

[U2democrat]

So you would oppose affirmative action then?

I'm on the fence. Not all affirmative action is about race, but yes I believe some of it is unfair. It's too complex an issue to say "yes i support it" or "no its awful make it go away".

 

[Sherry Darling]

So we're tossing out the whole "innocent until proven guilty" bit, then?

SD

 

[strannix]

is it the will of the ppl that GW was elected?
being that he was elected..does he have the right to appoint ppl?

thx
db9

Jesus, the guy wins one election and you're ready to appoint him king.

He has the right to nominate ppl. Those nominations need to be confirmed by the Senate. He doesn't have the power to just put anyone in there that he pleases, no matter what the ppl's will is.