Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Balko points to this interview with Alberto Gonzales where he shows just how disconnected from reality he truly is. To wit:
"What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?" he said during an interview Tuesday, offering his most extensive comments since leaving government.During a lunch meeting two blocks from the White House, where he served under his longtime friend, President George W. Bush, Mr. Gonzales said that "for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."
As Balko so sarcastically puts it, "Yes, Al. It's a Couple Hundred Tortured Detainees, 100,000+ Iraqi Citizens, the U.S. Constitution, and You."
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is sad. Due to incompetence, sense of privilege, malevolence, and disregard for the Constitution, he managed to leave office with both the left and the right hating him. The guy actually made John Ashcroft look like the administration's resident civil libertarian.Now Gonzales can't find a publisher for his book, and no one has yet offered him the cushy, high-paying job at a D.C. law firm that high-ranking public officials seem to think they're entitled to upon stepping down. So he's wallowing in self pity and delusions of victimhood.
Quite so. The thing that Gonzales never figured out while he was with the Bush administration and still hasn't figured out today is that the Department of Justice does not exist to serve as the president's attorney, providing the best possible legal defense for the actions of the president. That is the job of the White House counsels, which is what he was before he became AG.
The Attorney General's job is far more varied - part prosecutor, part adviser and part watchdog. His job was to protect the constitution, not Bush's political viability. When Bush violated the constitution, it was not his job to provide a legal defense for those violations, it was his job to tell the president to stop. He didn't get that then and he still doesn't get that. And there's more:
Among other things, Mr. Gonzales said Tuesday that he didn't play a central role in drafting the widely criticized legal opinions that allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to use aggressive interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects and expanded the president's power to hold "unlawful combatants" and terrorism suspects indefinitely. He also said he told the truth to Congress about a classified eavesdropping program authorized by the president, and admitted to making mistakes in handling the U.S. attorney firings while maintaining that he made the right decisions. He says that while he bears responsibility as former Attorney General that "doesn't absolve other individuals of responsibility."
Ah yes, the "all the big kids are doing it" excuse. Never works for 8 year olds, isn't gonna work for government officials.
Politics
Comments
Posted by: WScott | January 5, 2009 10:31 AM
Barton Gellman's "Angler", about the Cheney vice presidency, masterfully exposes Gonzalez' contributions to this whole fiasco. Most of which involved Gonzalez having extremely round heels, especially when it came to the affections of Cheney's legal counsel, David Addington, who had his way with nearly everyone in the Bush Administration as Cheney watched.
Addington by the way carried one of those Cato Institute publications of the U.S. Constitution around in his pocket, arguing this was what gave him his authority. I have a copy as well I keep in my brief case, very handy little book.
Posted by: Michael Heath | January 5, 2009 10:32 AM
I am surprised that Gonzales could recall anything about his time as AG, after his clear inability to recall critical discussions when questioned by Congress.
Or was that simple dishonesty, rather than hippocampal damage?
Posted by: carey | January 5, 2009 11:03 AM
For those who want to help out Abu Ali G (he says he's having a tough time in the job market) you can go here:
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/alberto/
and sign a petition to help get him hired as a Wal-Mart "Greeter".
Poor Ali, he thought he was going to get that lifetime tenure deal at SCOTUS, but instead he's on the outside, looking in.
Posted by: democommie | January 5, 2009 11:40 AM
Except that it is working. Care to lay odds on whether or not Gonzo will be prosecuted for any misdeed while in office, let alone convicted? There is probably a stack of pardons written by Addington just waiting for W to sign, one of which has Gonzo's name on it.
Posted by: c-serpent | January 5, 2009 12:27 PM
c-serpent,
Very possibly true. But it is so normal for people to step out of high-ranking government service into well-paid private sector jobs and book deals, that this does indeed count as a real penalty for Gonzales.
Prosecution would be far far better, but at least he's not getting off without paying some price.
Posted by: James Hanley | January 5, 2009 12:34 PM
While Gonzo is busy upholding himself as a holy martyr, I wouldn't expect many to stop at the foot of his cross to weep for him.
Without a doubt, he is among the very worst AGs in American history - this, as Gonzo's chief priorities in the office were to first serve as Bush's personal legal bitch before ever serving the constitution or people of the United States.
Posted by: CHV | January 5, 2009 1:12 PM
Perhaps more telling than anything is that he does not seem to be able to get one of those 'old boy' jobs with any of the Republican supporters' firms. I am certain that Msrs. Bush and Cheney must have been burning up the telephone lines in order to help him find a well-paying new job. After all, they always put such great store in loyalty, or is that only loyalty to them?
Posted by: sirhcton | January 5, 2009 2:08 PM
Gonzo's whining inspires contempt, not sympathy. If he didn't agree with what he was doing, he could have resigned at any time. Instead, the man who served as the nation's highest-ranking law enforcement officer helped the corrupt Bush regime break the law and subvert the constitution. Now, for reasons he can't fathom, he can't find a job and is about as popular as a mosquito in a nudist colony. Boo frickin-hoo! If he wants someone to blame, he can look in the mirror. Prediction: any publishing company that pays him an advance on his piece-of-shit book won't even make their money back.
Posted by: Raymond Minton | January 5, 2009 3:00 PM
Geez, guys, you don't comprehend what the problem is here: all them law firms and book publishing houses have gone over to the terrorists and are refusing to publish Gonzo's book or give him a job as a lawyer. That's why he's a casualty of the war on terror. They were right: we have to fight them over there or they would follow us home. And they have. I just never thought they were so cunning as to take over law firms and book publishers. Just seems so tame. So no "real American" will ever get a job in a law firm or have a book published until we root them terrorists out. And we will know they have been rooted out because Gonzo will get a cushy lawyer job or have his book published - or both.
Posted by: BC | January 5, 2009 9:31 PM
Are suicides considered "casualties?"
Posted by: Azkyroth | January 6, 2009 2:29 AM
On January 5, 2009 2:08 PM, sirhcton posted:
Perhaps more telling than anything is that he does not seem to be able to get one of those 'old boy' jobs with any of the Republican supporters' firms. I am certain that Msrs. Bush and Cheney must have been burning up the telephone lines in order to help him find a well-paying new job. After all, they always put such great store in loyalty, or is that only loyalty to them?
Maybe B & C have been making some calls for Abu G, and maybe that is why Abu G cannot get a job.
Blue Nine
Posted by: Blue Nine | January 6, 2009 12:08 PM
Shorter Abu G.: "The fact that I can't get a cushy job after I violated the Constitution back and forth like a 10-dollar hooker is equivalent to my being waterboarded, force-fed and locked away in a military prison without trial for over 5 years. It really, really is!"
Brief, appropriate response.: "STFU, already".
Posted by: Chris Krolczyk | January 6, 2009 7:30 PM