Since I’ve just been critical of the Bush administration on a number of things, and ended by pointing out the handling of the attorney firings fiasco, I figured I needed to put something up about my take on the firings. I’ll start by saying I don’t care that the firings took place – that is the President’s right and the attorneys’ risk. I don’t care that we, as Americans, were told that these attorneys were fired for job related issues, even though that claim has been shown highly improbable and inaccurate. I am surprised that this issue has garnered so much attention, but I don’t feel the attention is unwarranted.
I do care that the President has the right to replace the attorneys for an indefinite time without Congressional review. Thankfully, that right is being reviewed and presumably removed. And I do care that this affair has shown us that our top law man, Attorney General Gonzales, seems not to be trustworthy nor heavily in favor of actually protecting the rule of law as much as advancing political plans. I understand that this happens all the time, but I want the Attorney General to at least appear to be strongly motivated to protect the law over protecting the party. That may be unrealistic, but at least some attempt to favor law over party politics is necessary for my continued support.
When Gonzales was first up for appointment, I listened to the review sessions. I read up some on his background. I tried to stay informed of topics discussed in Congress and Gonzales views on rulings of the law. I saw some minor things that I wasn’t in favor of (for instance, Gonzales is not a proponent of personal rights – a pet protection of mine), but overall he looked like a good candidate. I had no real complaints when he was approved and assigned US Attorney General. Since then, however, he has given a bizarre interpretation of the Constitution in at least one instance I know, and now looks to be less trustworthy and more politically motivated than law and Constitutionally motivated. It’s an unavoidable reality that people’s personal biases will come out in such situations, but I’m concerned Gonzales may be letting too much personal viewpoint into his work. It’s hard to explain, so I’ll not get too deep into that. I just am expressing a growing personal unease with Gonzales and the job he has done since passing Congressional review.
I’m not ready to call for his resignation as many, liberal and conservative (and, unsurprisingly, another liberal), in Congress are. But I am keeping a careful eye on his performance and his work so I can better re-evaluate him (not that my view will have meaning to anyone but me).
[tags]My opinion on Gonzales and the attorney firings of last year[/tags]