Yep, we're only hours into the announcement of Gonzales to replace Ashcroft and already Chuck Schumer and the ACLU are saying "eh, he's not so bad." Lovely. The man wrote a memo authorizing the waiver of the friggin' Geneva Conventions, and this isn't enough for the ACLU to take a position on him? And here's what the usually-very-liberal Schumer had to say, from the same article:
Even before the formal announcement, one Senate liberal welcomed the appointment of "someone less polarizing" to the position. "We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he's a better candidate than John Ashcroft."Well that's a relief. So long as his isn't planning on having Bible sessions in his office and covering up the breasts of statues with curtains, then he's a-okay to head the Justice Department.
What this means is that Bush gets a cakewalk on this one. We don't make him fight for this nominee. We don't make him expend political capital to get Gonzales confirmed - political capital that Bush will need for future confirmations. Oh now, our liberal organization and our liberal senator signal to Bush that the Dems and the left and constitution-defenders are now the Great Appeasers.
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. And hey, that little torture thing only applied to them there furiners anyway. (Or did it?)
