The headlines were screaming with the news that Alberto Gonzales was stepping down from the position of Attorney General. Political reaction wasn’t as mixed as one would have expected. The common thread seemed to be that Gonzales was ineffective at handling his own department. Certainly his responses before the Senate warranted that observation.
But this is, of course, a trademark of the Bush administration: feigned incompetence. We are expected to believe that persons this high up in our government have absolutely no clue what they are doing, sitting in a boat with no one knowing how to row the oars. Gonzales repeated this mantra so many times during his time before the Senate Judiciary Committee that one could mistake him for doing a religious invocation. Regardless of the question, he could not recall dates or meetings and what they entailed.
It is certainly public knowledge that these recent years have been the most secretive in decades for the White House, cloaking decision-making behind a wall of classification and secret tribunals. For this reason, it makes absolutely no sense that incompetency is at work here.
One must ask themselves about a man in a powerful position who would assert to the Senate judiciary Committee on January 18 of this year that the Constitution does not expressly grant the right of habeus corpus. Ponder further the leaked memos from Gonzales attempting to invalidate the Geneva Conventions and international law in finding legal justifications for torture. Or the fact of his connections with warrant-less domestic wiretapping that supposedly caused a late night visit to an ailing Ashcroft back in 2004.
Another curious little aspect is that the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas back in June regarding the wiretapping program, which in turn has caused the White House to stonewall in releasing documents all summer. The extension on those subpoenas ran out on Aug. 20 and the information could have implicated Gonzales of wrongdoing. Furthermore, Committee chairman Patrick Leahy sent a letter to Inspector General Fine asking for an investigation into possibly misleading statements Gonzales made before the Committee on July 24, 2007.
Not surprisingly, Gonzales takes a bow and exits the stage at this time. The White House deflects further criticism by pointing the finger at our journalist for ousting him with the negative portrayal. The media frenzy surrounding his replacement will quiet the additional rumblings of the scandals.
That leaves us only with the impression of a befuddled Gonzales in our memory banks, testifying with an uncomfortable smile as he faces the cameras as he says, “I don’t know, can’t recall, can’t remember the exact details, it is certainly possible but I was not privy to the details…”
But this image doesn’t fit the smooth calibration of a how a year’s worth of investigations will float dead in the water while our man smoothly rows away on a boat provided by unseen benefactors.
Gonzales didn’t get to where he is by being an inept man. This is true for every member of this administration. So why are we convincing ourselves of this merely because it is easier to swallow?
Posted by: Rhonda - inzino staff
But this is, of course, a trademark of the Bush administration: feigned incompetence. We are expected to believe that persons this high up in our government have absolutely no clue what they are doing, sitting in a boat with no one knowing how to row the oars. Gonzales repeated this mantra so many times during his time before the Senate Judiciary Committee that one could mistake him for doing a religious invocation. Regardless of the question, he could not recall dates or meetings and what they entailed.
It is certainly public knowledge that these recent years have been the most secretive in decades for the White House, cloaking decision-making behind a wall of classification and secret tribunals. For this reason, it makes absolutely no sense that incompetency is at work here.
One must ask themselves about a man in a powerful position who would assert to the Senate judiciary Committee on January 18 of this year that the Constitution does not expressly grant the right of habeus corpus. Ponder further the leaked memos from Gonzales attempting to invalidate the Geneva Conventions and international law in finding legal justifications for torture. Or the fact of his connections with warrant-less domestic wiretapping that supposedly caused a late night visit to an ailing Ashcroft back in 2004.
Another curious little aspect is that the Senate Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas back in June regarding the wiretapping program, which in turn has caused the White House to stonewall in releasing documents all summer. The extension on those subpoenas ran out on Aug. 20 and the information could have implicated Gonzales of wrongdoing. Furthermore, Committee chairman Patrick Leahy sent a letter to Inspector General Fine asking for an investigation into possibly misleading statements Gonzales made before the Committee on July 24, 2007.
Not surprisingly, Gonzales takes a bow and exits the stage at this time. The White House deflects further criticism by pointing the finger at our journalist for ousting him with the negative portrayal. The media frenzy surrounding his replacement will quiet the additional rumblings of the scandals.
That leaves us only with the impression of a befuddled Gonzales in our memory banks, testifying with an uncomfortable smile as he faces the cameras as he says, “I don’t know, can’t recall, can’t remember the exact details, it is certainly possible but I was not privy to the details…”
But this image doesn’t fit the smooth calibration of a how a year’s worth of investigations will float dead in the water while our man smoothly rows away on a boat provided by unseen benefactors.
Gonzales didn’t get to where he is by being an inept man. This is true for every member of this administration. So why are we convincing ourselves of this merely because it is easier to swallow?
Posted by: Rhonda - inzino staff
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