Mukasey: Like Gonzales, Only Worse

At least Alberto Gonzales could manage to keep a straight face while lying out his ass.

aaaaaaand we're screwed. Again.

Senators Feinstein and Schumer will vote for the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General, evidently based solely his vague, off-the-record assurance that the President would actually have to obey a law banning "waterboarding." Of course, this is the same Mukasey who, as a federal judge, ruled that the President has the authority to arrest US Citizens on US soil and lock them up for the rest of their lives without ever charging them with a crime.
I have painstakingly defended this Democratic Congress, pointing out that in many cases they lack the votes to accomplish what many want of them in terms of reining in this lawless Administration. But if this is the best we can hope for, confirming a nominee just because he's "not Alberto Gonzales," even though his views on the apparently limitless bounds of Presidential power are completely indistinguishable with those of Gonzales, then what is the point of having a Democratic majority in the first place?

UPDATE: Guess which country prosecuted as war criminals enemy soldiers who used waterboarding on Allied POWs during WWII? Go on, guess!

UPDATE 2: But Condi Rice's legal advisor would apparently have let them walk.

Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me

Thus passes Alberto Gonzales, quite possibly one of the worst Attorneys General in American history, certainly right down there with Ed Meese and A. Mitchell Palmer. I have encountered other lawyers like him, mouthpieces would say or do anything, legal, semi-legal or otherwise, on behalf of their clients, and who have completely forgotten their loyalty to the law and the justice system. Good riddance.

UPDATE: A classic 2003 Atlantic article on the cynicism and callousness of the Gonzo/Dubya team from it's earliest days back here in Texas.

UPDATE 2: Capitol Annex repeats Austin rumors that Dubya will tap Cornyn to replace Gonzo, presumably to prevent his defeat by Rick Noriega. I respectfully doubt it. Dubya needs someone non-controversial to prevent a bloodbath with Senate Dems. Not sure even Senatorial Courtesy would be enough to shoe-horn the notoriously unlikeable Cornyn through the process.

"Gonzales" and "Trust"...

...two words that just don't go together.

H/T Wampum

Habeas, Shmabeus!

Reasons Why People Hate Lawyers #257 in a series.

aaaand #258.

Alberto Gonzales is a contemptible shill, the worst kind of smarmy mouthpiece, willing to regurgitate whatever bullshit gobbledygook weasel-words will best provide political cover for his reprehensible client. He's exactly the sort of shyster that would attack the victim (without evidence) in a sexual assault case, deliberately seek to provoke a mis-trial or file an obviously fraudulent suit in an effort to extort money from a deep pockets defendant. He is a disgrace to the Office of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice and the legal profession in general. Of course, he will never face the disbarrment he so richly deserves, but I least I only have to face two more years of watching his performances as they churn my stomach.

Fighting On

As a continuation of the Cobell Trust Fund lawsuit, the Native American Rights Fund has filed a massive class action lawsuit on behalf of 250 tribal governments whose funds have been "misplaced" by the federal government. US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has estimated the government's potential liability on all these claims as more than $200 billion.

DOJ Begins Work on Massive Stone Wall Around Administration

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is smacked upside the head with the ceremonial first brick. "And there's more where that came from!" shouted a defiant Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from the barricaded window of his office.

Can You Hear Me Now?

Pleadings in a breach of privacy case against AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth allege that the Bush Administration was seeking telephone records BEFORE September 11, 2001. Of course, lawyers can plead pretty much anything, but if proven, this would pretty well negate the whole "time of war" justification of domestic spying. Orcinus has a very good compilation of other bloggers detailing how Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney both repeated the claim that this program was instituted in RESPONSE to 9/11.