Alberto Gonzales to succed Ashcroft

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-10 12:52pm

el linko

egyptfrk · Post by **egyptfrk** » 2004-11-10 12:54pm

so he's replacing one nut job with another...lovely

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-11-10 12:57pm

Mrs. CmdrWilkens wrote:so he's replacing one nut job with another...lovely

yes, but this nutjob can habla la espanol, so that makes it ok. Diversity makes fascism tatse good. mmmm mmmmm!

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2004-11-10 01:09pm

Col. Crackpot wrote:
Mrs. CmdrWilkens wrote:so he's replacing one nut job with another...lovely
yes, but this nutjob can habla la espanol, so that makes it ok. Diversity makes fascism tatse good. mmmm mmmmm!

I blame PC.

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-11-10 02:17pm

remind me why hes crazy again?

egyptfrk · Post by **egyptfrk** » 2004-11-10 02:23pm

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.

That's why he's crazy.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-11-10 02:44pm

Don't forget this too:

Lawyer Defends White House Information Freeze

By Joe Strupp

Published: October 24, 2002

BALTIMORE White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales seemed to know instinctively that his comments to the Associated Press Managing Editors on Thursday would illicit groans. His first words to the lunchtime crowd of more than 300: "There is a danger for the president's lawyer to be addressing a roomful of editors."

After an initial chuckle from the group, gathered here for its annual conference, the audience turned serious, even concerned, as Gonzales spoke. He said the Bush administration will follow the law regarding Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and the release of other documents, but added that it will gladly withhold information if deemed necessary.

"You have a right to know what is going on in government," he told the crowd. "But we also believe such rights are not absolute."

Addressing concerns that the administration has been quick to withhold sensitive information in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Gonzales offered little hope that restrictions would be eased. "Our policy is that we expect [federal] agencies to follow the law," he said in response to a question about FOIA requests being delayed or ignored. "If an exception exists, [agencies] can follow the law. If [they] decide to withhold information that is permissible under law, [they] may do so."

In defending the administration, Gonzales pointed out that the president had invoked executive privilege to block the release of federal documents only once since taking office. He also said that only 200 lawsuits seeking FOIA disclosures had been filed during Bush's first year in office, compared to 600 in the last two years of the Clinton administration.

"I am confident that history will confirm that the administration did what it thought was necessary," Gonzales said.

But several editors in attendance said his remarks showed a clear effort to keep as much information secret as possible. "When a message is given out to government that they don't have to give out documents if they don't want to, that shows they are antagonistic to open records," said George Stanley, managing editor of the Milwaukee (Wis.) Journal Sentinel.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp ... id=1748766

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-11-10 03:18pm

Brilliant move. It's Ashcroft without the fundy craziness, and if Senate Democrats try to filibuster, Karl Rove can spend the next four years telling Hispanic voters the Democrats tried to block the first Hispanic Attorney General of the United States.

egyptfrk · Post by **egyptfrk** » 2004-11-10 03:22pm

*cringing*

Post by **Beowulf** » 2004-11-10 03:24pm

Guardsman Bass wrote:Don't forget this too:
"You have a right to know what is going on in government," he told the crowd. "But we also believe such rights are not absolute."

Um... ok... I fail to see how this is a problem. Every govenment has things they don't want in public. You don't have an absolute right to know everything the government knows. "Let's hand everyone the details on how to build a thermonuclear device!"

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-11-10 03:36pm

Beowulf wrote:
Guardsman Bass wrote:Don't forget this too:
"You have a right to know what is going on in government," he told the crowd. "But we also believe such rights are not absolute."
Um... ok... I fail to see how this is a problem. Every govenment has things they don't want in public. You don't have an absolute right to know everything the government knows. "Let's hand everyone the details on how to build a thermonuclear device!"

In context, he said this in response to the Freedom of Information Act. Information that was vital to national security wouldn't be released anyway, so basically Gonzales was trying to discourage them from using FIA to get info.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2004-11-10 03:38pm

He's better than Ashcroft, and honestly better than I though the administration would come up with. Not ideal by any means but apparently less of a loon than Ashcroft.