Go after Gonzales--YES, and spend W's "capital" while we are at it.

[blondeatlast]

Gonzales has NO respect whatsoever for the sanctity of life. Not an OUNCE.

His work to thwart the Geneva Convention is one, his bloodlust for the Texas death penalty is another. Look harder into the heart of a murderer, and I'm sure you can find more examples.

We must fight this one aggressively, and we must do it on these issues to prove the hypocrisy of W and the Republicans who support him without question.

[FubarFly]

1. Exactly.

We can fight this nomination in an effort to reclaim the moral high ground. Let b*sh defend Abu Ghraib. Let the pukes go on record as being opposed to human rights. The battle to retake Congress in 2006 starts now.

[Walt Starr]

2. Goiong after this nomination is a losing strategy

Seriously, I bet Bush and Rove are just ITCHING for us to try and fight it via filibuster.

[FubarFly]

3. wrong.

Not fighting is a losing strategy.

And has been for the last decade.

If they are itching for hell, then we are obligated to unleash it.

[zaj]

4. So you are saying Filabuster is a losing strategy; Not "going after" Gonzo

... Make it a media campaign, not a filibuster campaign. Get the media to shred him...

[lapislzi]

8. In this case, filibuster IS a losing strategy for our side

We have to let them tear themselves apart from within. It's going to happen. Divide 'n rule.

If the media joins in, so much the better, but don't count on it.

[Walt Starr]

14. Get the man on the record

Drill him to the core in the hearings, but end of the day he's going to win anyway so let the vote go through.

[lapislzi]

7. Walt, they're not getting it

I may ask you to edit Peter Pauper's edition of The Art of War next season...(yes, we're thinking about reissuing it, seriously)

:evilgrin:

[G_j]

11. if fighting the appointment of a fascist 'pig'

is a losing strategy, then so be it!!

Supposedly opposing Goss was a losing strategy also, so now we are doubly fucked. It just happens to be people like us that they may be targeting in the future with their PATRIOT fascism and new changes so the CIA can operate against American citizens here at home.

fuck "strategy" I am REALLY sick of that word right now.

** man my language has changed a bit lately, it used to be rare for me to use the F-word. But..Fuck it!
and fuck that Nazi Gonzales!
------------------------------
------------------------------
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/11/11/1541207
Thursday, November 11th, 2004

Gonzales Nominated as Attorney General: "Bush Took His Personal Lawyer and Made Him Lawyer to the Nation"
---------------------------------------------------------

http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2003-07-11/pols_naked9.html

The Guv's Death Row Secrets
Naked City
BY JORDAN SMITH

July 11, 2003:


In the current edition of The Atlantic magazine, Alan Berlow writes about the content of the 57 executive clemency summaries of death row cases prepared by then-Gov. George W. Bush's general counsel, Alberto Gonzales, which Berlow obtained through Texas' open-records laws -- memos the state is now seemingly trying to keep out of the public's hands.

Gonzales -- the former Vinson and Elkins partner whom Bush subsequently appointed secretary of state and then a Texas Supreme Court justice, before asking him to come to Washington as his White House counsel -- is considered to be on Bush's short list of U.S. Supreme Court nominees. Back in Texas, as the guv's general counsel, Gonzales prepared clemency memos regarding Texas' death row cases for Bush to review prior to an inmate's execution -- memos that were, as Berlow writes, "Bush's primary source of information in deciding whether someone would live or die." In reviewing the memos, Berlow discovered that they contained a paltry amount of information "repeatedly to apprise the governor of the crucial issues in the cases at hand," such as "ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, even actual evidence of innocence." And so it went; Bush refused to stay executions in 56 of the 57 cases for which Berlow obtained memos.

<snip>
Berlow's article can be found online at www.theatlantic.com/issues/2003/07/berlow.htm

[Walt Starr]

15. give up on strategy

You might as well eat a bullet right now, because without strategy we lose.

[GiovanniC]

5. Pointing Out That He's the Guy Who Issued a De-Facto Nullification

of Geneva could be very effective, I think.

Harping on the death penalty won't. I oppose the death penalty just like a lot of people here, and think that the fight should continue against it. But indicting the guy that Bush wants as the top legal dude in the country for his positions on the death penalty won't work because most of the masses think "pro-death penalty = tough on crime".

[Mr X]

6. Gonzales: Bush is above the law

The key 50-page memo was written Aug. 1, 2002, by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel for Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel. The criminal law, it stated, "does not apply to the president's detention and interrogation of enemy combatants pursuant to his commander-in- chief authority."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/24/MNG2A7B8G91.DTL

[newportdadde]

9. Agreed.

I agree the most important thing at this point is to tie up Bush as long as possible for the aura to fad. He is gunning for Social Security now so if we can drag this out for awhile every day deflecting SS and putting something else on the burner is a victory for us long term.

[Bridget Burke]

10. At least some pointed questions could be asked.....

I don't know that a Scorched Earth Retreat is in order, but the "Geneva Convention is obsolete" thing could be mentioned. And his help in keeping Cheney's energy meetings secret. (Remember them?)

One small favor he did Shrub: Got him out of jury duty when he was Governor. In Texas, you can avoid jury duty if you has a past felony conviction. His Maine DUI bust was still secret. In fact, it "coincidentally" came to light in 2000 just as Democratic veterans planned a press conference to ask about his AWOL.

[G_j]

12. I believe he was also behind keeping presidential records secret

and declared Texas did not have to abide by international treaties that the US had signed.

[CityDem]

13. This is how it will come down

Senate dems will grill Gonzales very hard over his opinions on the Geneva Convention. He will have to squirm a bit, but dems will be respectful of this nominee -- the first Hispanic AG. He will be warned that the dems will be watching over his decisions, and will be confirmed by a vote of 80-20.

I doubt the dems will fight much over Rhenquist's replacement since Bush could hardly find someone more conservative than Rhenquist. The big fight will be over a replacement for Sandy O or Stevens. Replacing either of these justices with a evangelical fascist will tip the balance of power in the SCOTUS.

[high density]

16. So what does the military think of this guy,

especially after he basically gave a middle finger to the Geneva Convention?