No on Gonzales

I have no doubt that the Republican-controlled Senate will confirm Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General. For this reason, I haven't paid much attention to his nomination. Democrats have a busy schedule ahead, and I just didn't see the point in wasting ammunition on a sure loser of an issue.

After reading this story in the Washington Post this morning, I've changed my mind. Gonzales's role in making torture US policy is bad enough, and a number of people have argued that this alone should disqualify him from serving as AG. I agree. But the problem isn't just that he made bad decisions here or there; the real problem is that he is seems incapable of approaching his work with any degree of integrity.

Like so many others in this administration, Gonzales has surrounded himself with ideological clones, and goes out of his way to avoid hearing any challenging views. Looking at his record, he clearly sees the law as something to be worked around if necessary to legitimate administration policy, not as something that enforces limits on that policy. Sometimes the result of Gonzales's zeal to please his masters is just comical, like his abysmally bad vet of Bernard Kerik for Secretary of Homeland Security. Other times, as with his work in drafting the torture memos, the result is morally reprehensible.

It makes me angry that people like Gonzales, who have demonstrated time and again their unsuitability for doing serious work, are continually rewarded by a President who values loyalty above honesty and competence. And it makes me angry to think that any Democrat would be complicit in the process to make this man the next Attorney General. Four years ago, eight Democrats voted to confirm Ashcroft, a breakdown in party unity that hurt our credibility as a principled party willing to fight for its values. We don't have the votes to stop Gonzales, but all Senate Democrats should at least exhibit the will to do the right thing and vote against his confirmation.