White House Shuffle

12 November 2004



Gonzales to Replace Ashcroft as Attorney-General

John Ashcroft resigned from the Justice Department and before his chair could cool, the president appointed long-time pal Alberto Gonzales to take over as US Attorney General. The change is largely cosmetic, despite what optimism may be heard in liberal corners. If anything, the appointment of Mr. Gonzales illustrates that Mr. Bush prefers dealing with people he knows. And if they happen to be political extremists, all the better.

Mr. Ashcroft, of course, is responsible for the odious “Patriot Act,” which permits the government to undertake all sorts of repressive actions, down to searching through library records to see what books people are reading. It is perfectly reasonable for a non-smoking, non-drinking, non-dancing Calvinist Christian like Mr. Ashcroft to be a defender of liberty, but he has chosen not to be such. Mercifully, the Supreme Court has forced the Bush administration to let detainees have access to the American judicial system. Ralph Neas of People for the American Way said, quite accurately that, “John Ashcroft was one of the most destructive attorneys general in the modern era. His tenure was marked by a severe erosion of Americans' constitutional liberties.”

Currently White House Counsel, Mr. Gonzales goes back to Mr. Bush’s Texas days, having been a friend and advisor back when the president wasn’t even a governor yet. As a Bush appointee to the Texas Supreme Court, he got the goat of arch-conservatives for voting against requiring parental-consent for minors to get abortions and has even said nice things about affirmative action. Apparently, the left is so demoralized by the election that this looks like progress. New York Senator Chuck Schumer said, "It's encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing. We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he's a better candidate than John Ashcroft."

Well, not so fast, Mr. Senator. Mr. Gonzales is the author of a memo in 2002 that essentially says the US is not bound by the Geneva Convention in its fight against terror. The results were Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. Colin Powell opposed Mr. Gonzales’ opinion saying, the policy would “reverse over a century of US policy and practice in supporting the Geneva Conventions and undermine the protections of the law of war for our troops.” In response, Mr. Gonzales described the Geneva Conventions as “obsolete” and described certain provisions as “quaint.” On the matter of supplying POWs with athletic uniforms, one can only wonder at how civilized war once might have been.

Mr. Gonzales will be confirmed by the Senate, as the Senate Democrats don’t have the ability to derail it short of a filibuster. After the drubbing on November 2, they probably can sustain one just yet. As head of the Justice Department, he is a very different personality compared to Mr. Ashcroft. However, the instincts and attitude seem equally corrosive.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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