alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

April 19, 2007

The Gonzo Files

by AltHippo @ 3:01 pm. Filed under US8

Since I don’t work in one of those places where everyone has a TV with cable access, I’m dependent on the Washington Post, FDL, TPM, etc., for coverage. So, I didn’t get to see this first hand. (If you don’t work in DC, it might surprise you to know that offices with political duties will often have TVs tuned to CNN or Fox) But, this bit from Gonzo on the provision in the Patriot Act that permitted the White House to name USA’s without Senate confirmation caught my attention:

Gonzales said he did not support the provision with the intention to avoid Senate involvement in confirming U.S. attorneys but to take interim appointments out of the hands of federal judges when there were vacancies.

He insisted that he “never liked the idea” of using the provision to bypass the Senate and that “quite frankly I thought it was a dumb idea.”

Gonzales came under sharp questioning on this point from Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who pointed to other testimony indicating that he did not initially reject a plan to use the provision in precisely that way.

The attorney general said he could not say who came up with the idea of changing the law in the first place. Congress has since voted to repeal the provision.

So far, sneaking this provision into the Patriot Act has been portrayed as the lone act of a deranged bushnik on the Judiciary Committee. From Gonzo’s description it sounds like the idea was discussed inside of Justice, and he approved it, because he believes that Federal judges are hacks, and the president can better decide on these things from within his bubble, or cocoon, or lair, or wherever he goes to avoid dissenting opinion. The part about cutting Congress out, that was a dumb idea, but hey, life’s too short to dot all the i’s on these things.

He says that he can’t remember who came up with the idea of the provision. Were there that many conspiracies in the air at the same time, that he lost track of who was doing the juggling?

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