“As we fight the war on terror, we must always honor and observe the principles that make our society so unique and worthy of protection. We must be committed to preserving civil rights and civil liberties.”
– Alberto Gonzales
I’m catching up on the news this afternoon, and so am just now reading about Gonzales’s Senate hearings. There doesn’t seem to be a reporter or opinion writer in the world who believes Gonzales should be Attorney General, and yet there has never been any doubt of his confirmation.
Salon quotes Senator Joe Biden as saying, on Thursday, “We’re looking for candor, old buddy. We’re looking for you, when we ask you a question, to give us an answer, which you haven’t done yet. I love you, but you’re not being very candid so far.”
Apparently Gonzales was candid about almost nothing, spent a lot of time being vague, and offered only general reassurance like that quoted above. And, really, who doesn’t know that you at least have to pay lip service to these things?
It sounds like a lot of senators were frustrated that Gonzales wasn’t more candid, but I have to wonder why. Were they expecting him to say, “I think that torture is a good thing, and that we should make a habit of detaining people without probable cause”? Perhaps the greatest testament to his character was that he was vague, rather than lying outright in response to every question.