Financial Times Editorial Comment: Gonzales farce
Financial Times Editorial Comment: Gonzales farce
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: May 29 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 29 2007 03:00
US president George W. Bush has derided the proposed Senate vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales, his attorney-general, as "pure political theatre". In a way, he is right. If it happens, the vote will have no constitutional force. It will not compel the president to fire his inept attorney-general, nor oblige the hapless Mr Gonzales to quit.Mr Bush has expressed utter lack of concern for what Congress or anybody else thinks of his favourites. No mere Senate vote is going to change that.
Nonetheless, one must hope that a no-confidence vote does come to the Senate floor and that it commands the widest possible support. Although it might force no action, it would justly embarrass the president and Mr Gonzales, and draw further public attention to the attorney-general's impressively comprehensive inadequacies. The sting would be all the greater if a good number of Republicans were to vote with the Democratic majority, as some have indicated they will.
A Senate vote of no confidence is a rare thing. But Mr Gonzales is qualified for the distinction. The still mounting evidence of his unfitness suggests that he is not so much a conscientious opponent of the constitution and the rule of law, but rather a shambling incompetent who may very well fail to understand the dereliction of duty that is apparent to every other qualified observer.
His newest embarrassment concerns his flagrantly improper attempt in 2004, as White House counsel, to get a hospitalised John Ashcroft (his predecessor as attorney-general) to reverse a ruling on the illegality of an eavesdropping programme. Then and later, as attorney-general, Mr Gonzales blithely rubber-stamped all of the president's claims of virtually limitless war powers, the use of torture, indefinite detention without trial, warrantless surveillance and more. The top ranks of the justice department have been emptied of almost every self-respecting professional, and inexperienced political hacks have assumed positions of responsibility. In the scandal that followed the firing of US attorneys last year, Mr Gonzales shocked Congress with memory lapses, contradictory statements and disavowals of responsibility that were outrageous even by Washington standards.
After that lamentable display, which left Republican loyalists with their heads in their hands, the president said Mr Gonzales had "increased my confidence in his ability to do the job". That was political theatre too: broadest farce. Let the Senate, in return, say what it thinks of Mr Gonzales.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: May 29 2007 03:00 | Last updated: May 29 2007 03:00
US president George W. Bush has derided the proposed Senate vote of no confidence in Alberto Gonzales, his attorney-general, as "pure political theatre". In a way, he is right. If it happens, the vote will have no constitutional force. It will not compel the president to fire his inept attorney-general, nor oblige the hapless Mr Gonzales to quit.Mr Bush has expressed utter lack of concern for what Congress or anybody else thinks of his favourites. No mere Senate vote is going to change that.
Nonetheless, one must hope that a no-confidence vote does come to the Senate floor and that it commands the widest possible support. Although it might force no action, it would justly embarrass the president and Mr Gonzales, and draw further public attention to the attorney-general's impressively comprehensive inadequacies. The sting would be all the greater if a good number of Republicans were to vote with the Democratic majority, as some have indicated they will.
A Senate vote of no confidence is a rare thing. But Mr Gonzales is qualified for the distinction. The still mounting evidence of his unfitness suggests that he is not so much a conscientious opponent of the constitution and the rule of law, but rather a shambling incompetent who may very well fail to understand the dereliction of duty that is apparent to every other qualified observer.
His newest embarrassment concerns his flagrantly improper attempt in 2004, as White House counsel, to get a hospitalised John Ashcroft (his predecessor as attorney-general) to reverse a ruling on the illegality of an eavesdropping programme. Then and later, as attorney-general, Mr Gonzales blithely rubber-stamped all of the president's claims of virtually limitless war powers, the use of torture, indefinite detention without trial, warrantless surveillance and more. The top ranks of the justice department have been emptied of almost every self-respecting professional, and inexperienced political hacks have assumed positions of responsibility. In the scandal that followed the firing of US attorneys last year, Mr Gonzales shocked Congress with memory lapses, contradictory statements and disavowals of responsibility that were outrageous even by Washington standards.
After that lamentable display, which left Republican loyalists with their heads in their hands, the president said Mr Gonzales had "increased my confidence in his ability to do the job". That was political theatre too: broadest farce. Let the Senate, in return, say what it thinks of Mr Gonzales.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:51 AM
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