Democratic senators like ranking Democratic Judiciary Committee Member Patrick Leahy made his views of President Bush's Judicial nominations very clear last year "With respect to his extreme judicial nominations, President George W. Bush is the most divisive President in American history. " And I think that it is safe to say that his tactics will apply to Mr. Gonzales as well.
What are the odds that today's hearing will provide any meaningful discourse on Mr. Gonzales qualifications? Many feel, as history has shown, that we will witness yet another display of the decay of our great political discourse?
Bloomberg's James Rowley reports that:
Senator John Cornyn, a Republican from Gonzales's home state of Texas, said that Leahy[has]employ[ed] the same tactic Democrats used to stymie Bush's nomination of Miguel Estrada to a federal appeals court. Estrada, who refused to produce legal advice he gave while an assistant to the U.S. solicitor general, withdrew his nomination in 2003 after Democrats blocked Senate action on it.
``This is not about providing information,'' said Cornyn, a Judiciary Committee member. ``This is about trying to keep the nominee on the defensive, suggesting, wrongly, that they are withholding critical information, then bloodying the nominee during the process for their unwillingness to do something which legally they cannot do.''
The information Leahy seeks includes the ``most sensitive'' communications between the president and his advisers that ``have to be given some protection,'' Cornyn said.
The information Leahy seeks includes the ``most sensitive'' communications between the president and his advisers that ``have to be given some protection,'' Cornyn said.
Clearly there are questions that need to be addressed as MSNBC's National affairs writer Tom Curry writes:
A primary focus of [The] questioning of Gonzales will be why he asked Bybee to write the Aug. 1, 2002, memo [ on interrogation methods ] and whether it was designed to justify techniques the CIA or other military interrogators were using to pry information out of al-Qaida suspects.
To be sure such questions should and will be asked. But to what end? In order to gain a better understanding of Gonzales and his fitness to hold the office? Or will it just be another opportunity to conduct what Justice Thomas said during his confirmation hearing as a type of high tech lynching.
Today we will see if the 2004 election did anything to reduce the fighting over President Bush's nominees, but I would not hold your breath for too long. I think I see Mr. Leahy's hat right now.
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