No on Gonzales

To be clear: His tortured legalese which ultimately resulted in the atrocities at Abu Ghraib ought to be reason enough for the Senate to reject the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General.

But now comes word that he pulled strings for then-Governor Bush at a voir dire for a DUI trial involving an Austin stripper so that Dubya could avoid disclosing his own DUI conviction -- and has subsequently prevaricated about it, under oath, before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

I am reminded of attorney Tom Hagen's line in the opening scene of "The Godfather", where he explained to the movie mogul: "I have a very special practice. I represent one client."

Throughout his career as consigliere to Bush, the task of Al Gonzales -- indeed his mission -- has been to find, or absent that, invent the justification for whatever it is that needed doing. Questionable or not, shady or not, legal or not. You can almost hear Bush saying "Git it done, Al," spoken with his trademark smirk, through the years.

Can't have the Guvna answer no questions about drinkin' and drivin'? Call in a chit wit' the judge. Got a death row inmate that needs killin'? Gloss over the fact that the condemned man's lawyer fell asleep during his trial. Need to make some camel jockeys -- errr, terrists -- spill their guts? Hell, that Geneva Convention's not only sixty years old, it's for pussies.

Conservatives get apoplectic when the Bush administration is called thugs, gangsters, or God forbid, a multinational corporation. When they do, all we should do is open a page from any one of the law books in Alberto Gonzales' library. They all say the same thing.

"Git it done, Al."

To vote to confirm this man as attorney general goes against seemingly every concept of freedom, liberty, and democracy mouthed by the President last Thursday and espoused in the Constitution. Not that that sort of thing matters much.

The Senate should reject this nominee.