BREAKING NOW **ABC REPORTING THEY'VE LEARNED BUSH WILL NOMINATE ALBERTO GONZALEZ FOR AG POSITION
That is all....
That is all....
Bush Will Nominate Alberto Gonzalez For Ag Position
- Thread starter N8 v2.0
- Start date
But I thought Republicans hate minorities and try to keep them down. That's what Terry McAuffille told me.
This may be ugly, heard on the radio his signature was all over the torture memos, many still unreleased.
And republicans love a well groomed well educated minority lap dog.
And republicans love a well groomed well educated minority lap dog.
Ah yes, when Democrats do it, it's promoting diversity, when republicans do, they're lapdogs. I like how this works 
BurlyShirley said:Ah yes, when Democrats do it, it's promoting diversity, when republicans do, they're lapdogs. I like how this works
You've got it!
Bush's whole cabinet are a bunch of retoric spouting lapdogs. They all seemed to want to say something else but then would just spout the planned lines. Well except for Ashcroft, you have to at least respect the man for speaking his mind although he would have been better off if he shut up now and then.
Westy said:
:dancing:
He is not well liked by conservative members of the Republican party or even Bush's own inner circle. When is name was mentioned in regards to Supreme Court nomination conservatives are quick to toss out a comparison to David Souter. He is one of the few folks that actually meets with Bush alone. So in that regard he is very very different from Ashcroft. I would expect him to be more pragmatic and moderate in his running of the Justice Department.
He also the main person behind the reexpansion of White House powers.
He also the main person behind the reexpansion of White House powers.
Coming from and expert in mindless drivel....N8 said:
Gonzales to Succeed Ashcroft, Sources Say
AP | Nov 10 | SCOTT LINDLAW
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.
Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president's.
After a National Security Council meeting, Bush was sitting down Wednesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, another figure being closely watched for signs of whether he will stay or go. Powell has been largely noncommital when asked about his plans.
AP | Nov 10 | SCOTT LINDLAW
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, a Texas confidant and one of the most prominent Hispanics in the administration, to succeed Attorney General John Ashcroft, sources close to the White House said Wednesday.
Ashcroft announced his resignation on Tuesday, along with Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a Texas friend of the president's.
After a National Security Council meeting, Bush was sitting down Wednesday with Secretary of State Colin Powell, another figure being closely watched for signs of whether he will stay or go. Powell has been largely noncommital when asked about his plans.
Westy said:
Mindless drivel trumps Circular arguments...
Still waiting for a Hispanic Democratic Attourney General Nominee, an African American Democratic Secretary of State......
Yeah, I'm sure the minorities in the Democratic Part are not spouting liberal rethoric, they all speak their own mind and still get to the (relative) top, right?
Yeah, I'm sure the minorities in the Democratic Part are not spouting liberal rethoric, they all speak their own mind and still get to the (relative) top, right?
Changleen:Changleen said:
this is the fourth or fifth time that you have called me retarded without saying anything else, and the first time that you used the word dyslexic. I see you found your way to the english dictionary, good for you.
I don't coin people terms like "retarded" because I'm not a psyco-analyst or psychaitrist, and also because I got over the discovery of the word "retarded" somewhere between kindergarden and pre-school. You however, seem to be unable to let go of that word. Amusing.
I felt like dignifying your post with a response because I'm very certain that if this is the way you talk in real life, you would have never survived elementary school. Unless, of course, you are one of those home-schooled, spoiled rotten kids that never learned when to talk and how.
You are an uninspiring reminder of why I hate liberals. you are the beacon that displays the message "do not touch", and since you are just a small-minded self-righteous person couped up in New Zealand, I give you my most sincere sympathy.
Nick
Yes yes yes - cut n paste - but is a good article, and provides more substance than this thread has so far...
Gonzales' apolitical course raises suspicions from the left and right
By Ron Hutcheson
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON Attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales is an American success story, the son of migrant workers who grew up in a two-bedroom house with seven brothers and sisters, no hot water and no telephone.
His climb from poverty to legal prominence is inspiring, but along the way he has accumulated critics at both ends of the political spectrum.
Partisans combing through his record as a member of the Texas Supreme Court and more recent work as White House counsel are less than thrilled by his appointment yesterday.
Civil libertarians worry that he is too quick to toss aside constitutional protections in pursuing terrorists. Christian conservatives question his commitment to their agenda, especially when it comes to abortion.
Still, Gonzales, 49, is expected to win Senate confirmation to replace John Ashcroft. Bush selected Gonzales, a trusted friend from Texas, a day after he accepted Ashcroft's resignation.
"He always gives me his frank opinion," Bush said in announcing the nomination. "He is a calm and steady voice in times of crisis."
Bush has been Gonzales' biggest booster since 1995, when Bush, then governor of Texas, hired Gonzales away from a Houston law firm to serve as his general counsel. Two years later, Bush made him secretary of state, the state's chief election official, with added responsibilities to serve as liaison to Mexico.
In 1999, Bush appointed Gonzales to the Texas Supreme Court, a position he gave up to serve as White House counsel.
His personal history is the kind of up-by-the-bootstraps tale that Bush loves. As a boy, Gonzales never dreamed of becoming a lawyer, if only because he did not know any lawyers. His parents never finished grade school, and his father struggled with alcoholism. They were thrilled when Gonzales finished high school, but he had loftier ambitions.
Seeing the military as a ticket out of poverty, he joined the Air Force. After two years of active duty, he enrolled at the Air Force Academy, then switched to Rice University in Houston, which he had admired as a boy when he sold sodas at its football stadium.
One of his professors sparked his interest in law, leading him to Harvard Law School. He joined Vinson & Elkins, a top-tier Houston firm, after graduating in 1982 and became a partner in 1991.
Friends and associates say Gonzales is strait-laced, conscientious and easy to work with. Austin lawyer David Botsford came away impressed after dealing with Gonzales during the run-up to the 1996 execution of Karla Faye Tucker. Tucker, who was sentenced to death for a brutal double slaying, repented and declared herself a born-again Christian while in prison.
Botsford led an unsuccessful effort to spare her life. Gonzales represented Bush, who declined to stop the execution.
"He appeared to be very open-minded about what I had to say about why she should live. He was very professional," Botsford said of Gonzales. "No question he treated me fairly."
On the Texas Supreme Court, Gonzales ran afoul of anti-abortion activists in a case involving parental notification for minors seeking abortions. He agreed with the court majority that a 17-year-old girl qualified for an exemption from the requirement.
In his opinion, Gonzales wrote that the decision was "personally troubling to me as a parent," but that he had "an obligation as a judge to impartially apply the laws of this state without imposing my moral view."
His explanation didn't satisfy anti-abortion groups, who feared that Bush would appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some conservative activists speculate that their opposition prompted Bush to make Gonzales attorney general, a nomination that is easier to get through the Senate than a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
"We think that attorney general is an excellent position for Albert Gonzales," said Tom Minnery, the vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family, a conservative group that opposed giving Gonzales a Supreme Court slot.
Civil libertarians remain wary about Gonzales' commitment to civil liberties. As White House counsel, he provided legal justification for trying foreigners accused of terrorism at military tribunals and drafted a memo suggesting that captives in the war on terrorism are not covered by Geneva Convention protections for prisoners of war.
He has also tried to limit access to presidential papers and fought to keep secret the deliberations that led to Bush's proposed energy policy.
"Making Alberto Gonzales the attorney general of the United States would be a travesty," said Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York.
Democrats in Congress including Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled that Gonzales probably would win confirmation, largely because they consider him an improvement over Ashcroft.
As White House counsel in Bush's first term, Gonzales was known less for his ideology than his loyalty to Bush. Indeed, he could be politically tone deaf in his zeal to protect the authority of his boss in squabbles with Congress.
"The Judge," as colleagues called him because of his brief tenure on the Texas Supreme Court, often sparred with Ashcroft and the other movement conservatives at the Justice Department and played the role of arbiter during the first term, listening to arguments of more dogmatic lawyers in the White House and the Justice Department and seeking consensus.
Behind the scenes, Gonzales clashed frequently with Ashcroft's Justice Department. He felt blindsided when Ashcroft, early in the administration, announced that the department would embrace, for the first time ever, a view of the Second Amendment that regards gun possession as an individual right on a par with freedom of speech or religion.
Many of the controversies on his watch were less his doing than that of underlings and other young conservative lawyers in the administration.
"I don't think he's ever really had a chance to express his views on major policy issues," said Ed Meese, the former attorney general now with the Heritage Foundation. "The job of the White House counsel is to be an attorney." As he goes from being the president's abogado, as Bush has referred to him, to the country's, all signs are that Gonzales will remain faithful not necessarily to conservative ideology, but to Bush.
Information on Gonzales' differences with Ashcroft was provided by The Washington Post.
Gonzales' apolitical course raises suspicions from the left and right
By Ron Hutcheson
Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON Attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales is an American success story, the son of migrant workers who grew up in a two-bedroom house with seven brothers and sisters, no hot water and no telephone.
His climb from poverty to legal prominence is inspiring, but along the way he has accumulated critics at both ends of the political spectrum.
Partisans combing through his record as a member of the Texas Supreme Court and more recent work as White House counsel are less than thrilled by his appointment yesterday.
Civil libertarians worry that he is too quick to toss aside constitutional protections in pursuing terrorists. Christian conservatives question his commitment to their agenda, especially when it comes to abortion.
Still, Gonzales, 49, is expected to win Senate confirmation to replace John Ashcroft. Bush selected Gonzales, a trusted friend from Texas, a day after he accepted Ashcroft's resignation.
"He always gives me his frank opinion," Bush said in announcing the nomination. "He is a calm and steady voice in times of crisis."
Bush has been Gonzales' biggest booster since 1995, when Bush, then governor of Texas, hired Gonzales away from a Houston law firm to serve as his general counsel. Two years later, Bush made him secretary of state, the state's chief election official, with added responsibilities to serve as liaison to Mexico.
In 1999, Bush appointed Gonzales to the Texas Supreme Court, a position he gave up to serve as White House counsel.
His personal history is the kind of up-by-the-bootstraps tale that Bush loves. As a boy, Gonzales never dreamed of becoming a lawyer, if only because he did not know any lawyers. His parents never finished grade school, and his father struggled with alcoholism. They were thrilled when Gonzales finished high school, but he had loftier ambitions.
Seeing the military as a ticket out of poverty, he joined the Air Force. After two years of active duty, he enrolled at the Air Force Academy, then switched to Rice University in Houston, which he had admired as a boy when he sold sodas at its football stadium.
One of his professors sparked his interest in law, leading him to Harvard Law School. He joined Vinson & Elkins, a top-tier Houston firm, after graduating in 1982 and became a partner in 1991.
Friends and associates say Gonzales is strait-laced, conscientious and easy to work with. Austin lawyer David Botsford came away impressed after dealing with Gonzales during the run-up to the 1996 execution of Karla Faye Tucker. Tucker, who was sentenced to death for a brutal double slaying, repented and declared herself a born-again Christian while in prison.
Botsford led an unsuccessful effort to spare her life. Gonzales represented Bush, who declined to stop the execution.
"He appeared to be very open-minded about what I had to say about why she should live. He was very professional," Botsford said of Gonzales. "No question he treated me fairly."
On the Texas Supreme Court, Gonzales ran afoul of anti-abortion activists in a case involving parental notification for minors seeking abortions. He agreed with the court majority that a 17-year-old girl qualified for an exemption from the requirement.
In his opinion, Gonzales wrote that the decision was "personally troubling to me as a parent," but that he had "an obligation as a judge to impartially apply the laws of this state without imposing my moral view."
His explanation didn't satisfy anti-abortion groups, who feared that Bush would appoint him to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some conservative activists speculate that their opposition prompted Bush to make Gonzales attorney general, a nomination that is easier to get through the Senate than a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court.
"We think that attorney general is an excellent position for Albert Gonzales," said Tom Minnery, the vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family, a conservative group that opposed giving Gonzales a Supreme Court slot.
Civil libertarians remain wary about Gonzales' commitment to civil liberties. As White House counsel, he provided legal justification for trying foreigners accused of terrorism at military tribunals and drafted a memo suggesting that captives in the war on terrorism are not covered by Geneva Convention protections for prisoners of war.
He has also tried to limit access to presidential papers and fought to keep secret the deliberations that led to Bush's proposed energy policy.
"Making Alberto Gonzales the attorney general of the United States would be a travesty," said Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York.
Democrats in Congress including Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled that Gonzales probably would win confirmation, largely because they consider him an improvement over Ashcroft.
As White House counsel in Bush's first term, Gonzales was known less for his ideology than his loyalty to Bush. Indeed, he could be politically tone deaf in his zeal to protect the authority of his boss in squabbles with Congress.
"The Judge," as colleagues called him because of his brief tenure on the Texas Supreme Court, often sparred with Ashcroft and the other movement conservatives at the Justice Department and played the role of arbiter during the first term, listening to arguments of more dogmatic lawyers in the White House and the Justice Department and seeking consensus.
Behind the scenes, Gonzales clashed frequently with Ashcroft's Justice Department. He felt blindsided when Ashcroft, early in the administration, announced that the department would embrace, for the first time ever, a view of the Second Amendment that regards gun possession as an individual right on a par with freedom of speech or religion.
Many of the controversies on his watch were less his doing than that of underlings and other young conservative lawyers in the administration.
"I don't think he's ever really had a chance to express his views on major policy issues," said Ed Meese, the former attorney general now with the Heritage Foundation. "The job of the White House counsel is to be an attorney." As he goes from being the president's abogado, as Bush has referred to him, to the country's, all signs are that Gonzales will remain faithful not necessarily to conservative ideology, but to Bush.
Information on Gonzales' differences with Ashcroft was provided by The Washington Post.