Friday, January 07, 2005

The nation's top lawyer

Nothing to say about the Gonzales-for-AG nomination that hasn't already been said better by others. (Though that's not necessarily a good reason to keep my mouth shut; as I heard somebody say yesterday, attributing the quote to Lincoln, "Yes, everything's been said, but not everybody has said it."). But if I asked you whether you had agreed with the assertion that mistreatement amounted to torture only "if it produced severe pain equivalent to that associated with organ failure or death," would you say, I don’t recall today whether I was in agreement with all of the analysis”? I mean, really -- if you had a belief that most civilized people would find abhorrent, you ought to at least admit it when under oath. He seemed, at least, to say that he doesn't believe that now, but just can't recall whether he believed it back then, before it became a matter of public debate and before he had to try to get confirmed as Attorney General. Maybe I'm just crazy, believing that it is important for an Attorney General to be honest, as well as important that he understands that the President does not have the authority to nullify laws as he sees fit.

posted by sam 6:23 AM 0 comments

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