Alberto Gonzalez

An op-ed by Alan Berlow in today's Washington Post takes issue with the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as the next Attorney General.

When you think of Texans prominent in government nowadays, three names immediately come to mind. George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, and Alberto Gonzales.

Is this the best we can do??

Texas is a large state. Granted, Texas is a large mostly conservative state. But Texas is home to a wide variety of political opinion...some of it eccentric, in a very Texas kind of way. And as far as I know it's not a requirement that Texas politicians be incompetent, unethical, or power-mad(or various combinations of all three.) But lately our "best and brightest", the guys who go up to D.C. bragging about their barbecue-eating, boot-wearing, cow-roping Texas backgrounds, are guys who hardly represent what I'd like to think are the essential characteristics of Texas...which do not include cronyism towards your corporate contributors, a staggering ability to deny reality, or a standard of lawyering that requires you only tell your client what he wants to hear.

On my behalf I'd like to apologize to the rest of the United States for these three men, and other Texans, for allowing these guys into power here at home and up there in D.C. Though they may stamp Texas on their chest, they are NOT what Texas is all about. And really, we're doing our best to bring them home.

But aside from that...

Bush has clearly indicated with his nomination of Gonzales that he'll pretty much take the same route he did in the first go-around, which is to tell people what he wants and then do everything in his power to get it, and compromise or concession be damned. Gonzales is a terrible choice. There is no denying that. Even if you don't think he was an average lawyer, a Texas Supreme Court Justice not known for a keen legal mind, a lazy advisor to Governor Bush, and an unethical and horrible advisor to President Bush...others do. And those others will do whatever they can to block his elevation to the post of Attorney General. But when you combine Bush's habit of rewarding absolute loyalty(see Rice) with his desire to get exactly what he wants no matter what anyone else thinks of it, this is what you get. But at the very least we can look forward to the roasting Gonzales will receive in front of the Senate, as well as the fact that his below-average legal mind and questionable ethics as a lawyer will be made clear to the public.