
Ruben Navarratte, Jr. writes the following about Abu Gonzales and the overthrow of the rule of law at DOJ:
The nation's first Hispanic attorney general is being pressured to resign by — pick 'em — Democrats trying to make hay, an elite media that long opposed him, civil libertarians who condemn administration policy on detainees and wiretaps, conservatives who think Gonzales is too liberal, and liberals who think he's too conservative.
The list even includes a pair of immigrant-baiting members of Congress — Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-California and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado — who fell out with Gonzales over the prosecution of two ex-border patrol agents.
Leading this lynch mob are white liberals who resent Gonzales because they can't claim the credit for his life's accomplishments and because they can't get him to curtsy. Why should he? Gonzales doesn't owe them a damn thing.
Democratic politicians love posing with mariachis as they nibble chips and salsa on Cinco De Mayo. But it was a Republican — George W. Bush — who made history by nominating a Hispanic to serve as attorney general.
Ruben, Gonzales owes us all quite a lot, for example, the truth and fidelity to the U. S. Constitition. Didn't they teach you about that at Harvard?
From that little snippet, you now know Ruben's whole routine: bash both sides, but end up with a Republican attack and talking point, all while snottily sucking up for tenure in the establishment civility elitist police force.
In English, we often call someone like this a "concern troll." In Spanish, I like the word mocoso, which translates roughly as "snot nosed brat." Here's what the most popular review of his book about his experiences at Harvard has to say about the book:
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
Watch him grow in arrogance, November 23, 2002
This book is worth reading since it is provocative and has interesting observations about being Latino in the Ivy League. Particularly interesting is his encounter with Richard Rodriguez, who starts out as an enemy and becomes a friend and intellectual mentor of sorts. However, as the book progresses, it feels more like a revisionist explaining away of his shortcomings–why he couldn't commit to his girlfriend and how his confrontations earn him enemies, who of course are mean, petty people in his version of events. Navarette makes everything seems so extreme–it's either Fresno State or Harvard, with nothing in between [emphasis added - Pach]. He seems shocked that almost every institution in his life from UFW to Harvard's RAZA group turns out to be imperfect so ends up basically condemning them as evil. It seems as if he is very good at pointing out the imperfections in everything around him and is obsessed with making people agree with him. The book ends abruptly and on a note of frustration as he gets fed up with the shortcomings of the educational system and leaves graduate school. You really have to start over to the introduction to get any sense of resolution that he has learned something from his experience and not just grown in cynicism and ego.
I must say, his subsequent writing has born this character assessment out spectacularly. He has this really sweet gig going as an establishment annointed opinion writer who poses as an anti-establishmentarian. He does this under the cover provided by his latino heritage, but his ultimate argument always props up The Man. Funny, that. He's a more sophisticated version of Box Turtle Ben, a Mexican American rentboy happy to defend immigration while fluffing the authoritarian cultists of the GOP.
Check this out from last summer:
(07-19) 04:00 PDT San Diego — LOOKING AT next month's Democratic primary in Connecticut, much more is at stake than whether U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman can survive the toughest fight of his political career.
The bigger issue is the future of an American political system that is as broken as broken gets. In both parties, politics have become all or nothing. The extremists are running things, and they're out to punish anyone in the middle of the road or less than 100 percent committed to the cause — whatever it is.
Ah, the intolerable cruelty of people who actually believe in things, who argue their beliefs and then organize politically to propel those beliefs. Smell the High Broderism. Is it just me, or does he seem to be trying really hard to overcome that accusation in the Amazon review that he's an extremist himself? Projection, much, Ruben? Eres un narciso extremo, Rubenito.
I get that many latinos in the U. S. wanted to feel and remain proud of Gonzales, but look, we latinos can still know a liar when we see one, and watching him testify before Congress about NSA wiretapping, it was painfully obvious Abu was lying his ass off. I don't know about you, Ruben, but my mama nailed me to the wall with a swift, sharp look when I tried to lie like that as a boy.
The truth is Gonzales was always a mediocre talent who hitched his wagon to the scion of a powerful American family whose moral and intellectual endowment gives new meaning to the phrase "defining deviancy down." Gonzales was his fixer in Austin, burying Bush's drunk driving arrest, and has been a corrupt hack ever since. We all know corrupt hacks from whatever Latin American country our families once called home, and Gonzales is an eminently recognizable specimen.
You see, Ruben, many of us latinos in America have role models much closer to home than the failed corrupt shell of a man that is Abu Gonzales. We don't spend our lives trying to curry the favor and approval of the Yale crowd (in Gonzales' case) or the Harvard crowd (in your case), because we have far better role models in our own families.
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J U S T I C E !!!
Justicia!
Grr. . . this interface always screws up the non-English punctuation, etc.
I think Mr Navarette probably needs a refresher class in basic US civics (as do most of the ComPost editorial writers, Chimpy and his admin, and many other “main stream” organizations around the country)
justicia retributiva!
Pach!
isn’t he rather small potatoes, to begin with? Just because he speaks (they think) to a Latino readership doesn’t mean that anyone is reading or taking him seriously. Isn’t this providing him a larger spotlight?
Don’t mean to be contentious, but I wonder if this doesn’t have the potential to be counter productive, at times?
I dunno – maybe I need another cuppa and am too sleep-at-the-switch mode to understand.
Are y’all talkin’bout me?
omg Pachacutec, I just finished reading some syndicated screed by this guy – and my co workers can tell you I was not happy -
Gonzales has a LOT of emotional baggage:
[Mod Note; In order to keep the FDL servers running smoothly and to avoid any potential copyright issues, please keep excerpts from articles to a few sentences in length and provide a link. Thank you.]
Hey, you left out the best part, I posted this 5 minutes after they released it:
I do wonder if the race card will resonate with some people. Essentially, the argument here, as I see it, is that by being Latino, Gonzales is doing a great job, and by wanting him out, those people hate Latinos. Could this be one of the strategies in spinning this fiasco?
Pachacutec @
3
Unicode!
I used to read Mr. Navarratte when I lived in Miami. I think he wrote for the Herald. I can see that his move to San Diego, has not changed his conservative bent. It’s felt, no, I know, that being honest and principled has nothing to do with ethnicity.
I was feeling a little bit proud that, for all his shortcomings, Abu hadn’t been trashed because of his race, by either side.
If Rueben thinks that we white folk are itching to lynch us a dirty meskin, he’s sadly mistaken. I don’t care what color you are; if you’re a corrupt liar whose job it is to undermine the United States because your boss told you to, then you get no love from me.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 14
A conservative in Miami. . .oh no!
mmr @ 12
Of course, they trot the same bullshit out about Condi bein a soul sister and all that jive ass bullshit.
Isn’t this providing him a larger spotlight?
I’ll say. I’ve never heard of him before — and, frankly, it looks very much like I’m better off for it. I’m hoping I don’t have to read about him again.
he must be one of those “radical centrists”.
raven @ 11
SOP–W deliberately appoints incompetent members of disadvantaged groups so Ds are forced to criticize prominent members of groups that normally vote D.
I did see a reference to the fact that one Latino org is being critical of Gaonzales.
Pach, is Ruben saying that Bush couldn’t *find* a more highly qualified Latino for AG or that Alberto Gonzales was the only latino that he knew?
David Ignatius has a really great column today about how Purgegate shows the Bush administration’s utter disdain for the career civil servants who believe in good government and are just trying to do their jobs. Worth reading.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..01799.html
Seems pretty clear that to me that if you start from the premise that you must prove yourself to be as good as another, that presupposes that you are unsure to begin with.
Please, explain to me exactly what is “fresh” or “important” about anything Navarette has to say about the Gonzales flap. Is having a Hispanic AG so much more important than having an AG who…oh, I don’t know…obeys the law? Am I supposed to believe that baldfaced corruption and partisan manipulation of one’s postition and authority are to be tolerated in Cabinet secretaries in the name of diversity? Or is it just that Navarette is yet another MSM enabler of this insanely corrupt, anti-Constitutional, warmongering administration who happens to find it convenient to make accusations of prejudice to cover for his own fawning toadyism?
I’m sick and tired of this bullshit. I just spent a night “sleeping” in an airport terminal with a sepulchral announcement repeating in my ears every ten minutes to tell me that the security threat level is “ORANGE,” which is supposed to sound like it’s synonymous with “Jack the Ripper is going to cut you down where you sit.” And I am sick, sick, sick pof it all.
Me First! Hey there Pach. Good post
Where I come from, he’s called a coconut.
This Administration doesn’t want to be the first one to fire a Hispanic, so he’s going to stay till the bitter end. Their public immigration policy is after the Hispanic vote, but their private immigration policy wants to put 20,000,000 illegal immigrants in Haliburton’s detention facilities. That is what the Hispanics need to know.
portia.vz @ 21
I think Ruben is saying he hates people who make political attacks not authored by himself. I think he’s also got a sleazy shakedown gig going on where he’s made a career of bashing those liberal white Harvard elites while becoming their ideological dirty money launderer.
He does this while claiming to speak for latinos, when his argument go against the interests and preferences of the vast majority of latinos in the country.
Also, I think it’s entirely appropriate to engage in the public discussion of issues of import to latinos in this country. People are aware of Gonzales and trying to sort it all out. Navarrette does not get to be the last word in talking about this from his lofty editorial perch.
EvilDrPuma @ 24
yes to #3!
Geez, Pach. Lay some smack down, would’ja? For a minute I thought you were T-Rex!
raven @
13
It’s OK when I stand on my head…
Gonzalez is a disgrace to Hispanic Americans, Mexican immigrants, men, whatever group you want to name. For Ruben to defend him ONLY because he is Hispanic is just as racist as someone who would attack him solely for that reason. It’s absurd. Sorry. Rant over.
Ed*ard Teller @ 31
and stack bb’s?
SOP–W deliberately appoints incompetent members of disadvantaged groups so Ds are forced to criticize prominent members of groups that normally vote D.
I was going to say pretty much the same thing but you beat me to it. It’s not just Dubya, though – I believe this is a general Republican technique. Instead of using tokenism to provide a thin veneer of “diversity” (although it does that too), it’s used as a sort of bait. In other words, if you promote (in either sense of the word) an unqualified and/or insane woman or minority, you can then palm off any legitimate criticism as racism/sexism/homophobia.
It’d be brilliant if their sudden concern for minorities and women wasn’t so transparently phony.
eCAHNomics @ 20
SOP–W deliberately appoints incompetent members of disadvantaged groups so Ds are forced to criticize prominent members of groups that normally vote D.
I did see a reference to the fact that one Latino org is being critical of Gaonzales.
At least Rice is competent, evil and spiteful, but she could do her job, if she ever pulled her head out of jr’s ass
Hutto Detention facility Taylor, Texas. Gonzo does not care about Hispanics, and he especially doesn’t care about their CHILDREN!!
From TPMmuckraker:
http://tpmmuckraker.com/
Sampson: It’s A Date!
By Paul Kiel – March 23, 2007, 4:27 PM
Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee extended an invitation for Alberto Gonzales’ former chief of staff Kyle Sampson to testify. If he didn’t want to come voluntarily, the committee said, he’d be subpoenaed.
Today, via a letter from his lawyer to the committee, he accepted — no subpoena necessary.
“Mr. Sampson looks forward to answering the Committee’s questions,” the letter reads. “We trust that his decision to do so will satisfy the need of the Congress to obtain information from him concerning the requested resignations of the United States Attorneys.”
The hearing will take place at 10 AM next Thursday.
Permalink | Comments (4) | TOPICS: U.S. Attorneys
Well done Pach. This guy seems just another enabler/apologist.
I’m just guessing here, but does El Mucoso mean The Slime?
Sheesh, this guy is syndicated? I always thought he was a spout-off from our town who had a family “in” with our local newspaper, which has never yet found a way to print an editorial worth reading.
I have to say I was very happy to see the outpouring of pride last summer from central and south American immigrants. I thought it was wonderful. Too many forget this is a nation of immigrants. I am the sponsor of a Colombian, who just happens to be married to my niece. I am honored to have Tio attached to my name when he writes me.
Hmmm. Mocoso, from the same root word as the English word mucus, perhaps?
From Webster’s online mucus.
It’s never too late to belabor the obvious, particularly when it involves something disgusting.
Oh, and the brilliant bankshot of this token strategy is that it serves to simultaneously *discredit* that same group. Jeez, if I based my opinion of Indians on Dinesh and Ramesh, I’d never eat tandoori again.
Sparkles the Iguana @
22
Well, except for the part where he says the USAs serve at the pleasure of the president and the firings are no big deal…
Well my friends, just got the call, I am officially a productive member of society again. I am now officially an accountant for a small law firm. Thanks for all the encouragement guys, but this may interfere with my being here, we’ll see.
greenwarrior @ 39
Sorry, I wrote this when I’d just seen the title and hadn’t started reading the article yet and seen your definition.
Pachacutec @ 28
Don’t forget about enabling torture. It’s wrong no matter what color a person is.
Fuck. You.
Congratulations, Wil!
Congratulations, Wil.
They are fortunate to have you.
Wil @ 45
Congratulations. As with many fields, accounting has its less busy times.
In his remarks before the vote Rep. Pat Murphy, Iraq war vet stuck it to the pandering right wing “support the troops” bullshit”!
Wil @
45
Didya get a blog clause put in?
Congrats, Wil.
Bustednuckles @ 48
A-fucking-men. I don’t give a shit what color he is, and I sure as hell don’t want credit for any of his “accomplishments”. Jeebus.
Ruben has been printed regularly in the Denver Post for years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him write about anything except immigration. He’s got his own latino thing going, and I’ve never seen him write opinions on anything that didn’t have a hispanic connection. It’s his gig…
OOOO, Tweety just said the WAPO is a “Neocon” paper now.
Um, how the heck could poor lil’ Abu get ahead if it weren’t for the “entitlements” that Democrats have bequeathed to our citizens and Repukes continue to condemn?
sheesh.
TiredFed @ 32
Lawyers? Human beings?
Yep, pretty much any group.
One thing I can say about the Bush political dynasty. They don’t discriminate. They use and abuse people, and throw them away, regardless of their background.
Bustednuckles @ 48
well said.
Ed*ard Teller @ 53
They’re 8 months behind on the client trust reconciliations and time slips, I think I might be a little busy for the first 2 or 3 days. (What’s a time slip, is it related to those billables I keep hearing about here?)
Thank you Pach.
You always enlighten!
raven @ 57
NeoComPost?
Eli @ 44
Patrick Leahy’s line about that on Olbermann last night was the best:
“The attorney’s may serve at the pleasure of the president, but the justice system does not serve at the pleasure of this or any other president.”
Yeah!
Pach!
you da man!
you are so spot on, I, I’m speechless.I miss it when you don’t write.
Its sad to see AL Gonezo entertain the perception that latinos will take fame however they can get it in The Man’s world, thinking for a minute that people are going to be blinded by the thieves who threaten any person of color first then the rest of us.
Thank you,
This expresses my thoughts exactly. As a Latino, my feeling is that Gonzales is an embarressment to our culture and has probably set back progress for us more then we can imagine.
This is the first time I have ever commented, but you nailed it with this ‘ pendejo ‘
Muchos Gracias
Bustednuckles @ 48
Is John Podhoretz ghostwriting Ruben’s columns?
Ruben’s propensity for aggressively stupid, nonsensical, unsupported, hyperbolic bullshit is eerily Podlike.
Rep Mike Pence:
“micro-manage/new way forward blah blah fucking blah”
Mocoso tal vez. Fanfarron o Sinverguenza desde luego que si.
A Fanfarron is an exaggerator, teller of half truths to exaggerate his own importance. A Sinverguenza is a person without shame or conscious. Both are reoccurring themes of the Bush administration.
CNN’s Cafferty covering Gates’ recommendation to close Gitmo and end the “show trials” to avoid international criticism– noting that Gates was overruled by Gonzales (who didn’t want the detainees tried in US courts) and VP Cheney, who’s just a jerk. Wonder what Ruben Navarratte thinks of that.
raven @ 69
Chris is socking it to him. Boo Yah! ; )
Well, this stuff from Ruben is not surprisng. The wing-nuts always have some enablers there to discuss how liberals force minority groups in their place. Ward Connerly from California is a great example of this. Condi doesn’t exactly appreciate the fact that the work of civil rights leaders helped her in her career. Malkin supports people who essentially wouldn’t want her dating their conservative sons because of the color of her skin.
raven @ 57
Tweety carries water for the Lake.
Now.
raven @ 57
Looks like that idea is starting to become obvious.
Welcome ron casa!
kirk murphy @ 74
Yeah, but the show is only 13 min old… Striking similarity between Tweety & Specter.
Scarecrow @ 71
I thought Dubya was against show trials now?
Bienvenidos, ron casa. Mucho gusto y gracias tambien.
kirk murphy @ 74
keep a close eye on ‘im. He’s like New England weather… jus’ sayin’.
Great to be here,
A big fan of the site, guess i popped my cherry…oh, oh…lots of comments to come i suppose…
“i have been hearing from police officers, judges & attorneys – all republicans – urging me to continue this”
sen pat leahy
(speaking on the ed schultz show – 3-23-07)
Tweety carries water for the Lake.
Now.
I knowthe motherfucker drives me nuts. He put Swifty John O’ Neil on every other goddamn night during the last presidential and now he is deep in the asses of the pubs!
Wil–
Beg to differ. Rice gave speech spring 01 (i.e., before 9/11) to friendly group like Russian-American Chamber of Commerce. Perfect opportunity to showcase her expertise. She spoke for 20 minutes. She said Russia is a country of great possibilities. That’s all & it took her 20 minutes.
I have seen no accomplishment in the intervening 6 years to challenge my evaluation that she is incompetent. Memory Lane–she was put in charge of Iraq when they first saw it going down the crapper. Did she do anything after the announcement?
W got a twofer with Rice–Blacks & women.
I don’t get the whole race thing with this a-hole (can’t cuss, working at the moment). I live in almost exclusivly Hispanic/Mexican part of a very Hispanic/Mexican, with a Mexican ex and never heard a bit of support for this tool, not even my republican neighbors like him.
NowThese nanoseconds.
;)
!Viva Ron Casa! Y Bienvendios!
AZ Matt @ 73
Ding!
You are CORRECT!
Ruben is Kathleen Parker is David Broder is David Brooks etc, hack writters who are fact challenged. If it wern’t for their rightward spin on things they would never get published by national newspapers. However the hacks lack of talent is costing the national newspapers their audience. By the way Ruben WHY do you think hispanics will support Gonzo I don’t remeber him at the imigration protests. I do remeber whites, blacks and Asians marching side by side with punkrockers,subarban moms and AIM! All marching in support of US Hispanics who turned out in our thousands and tens of thousands (and that was just in Seattle mind you). Yet where was the “highest ranking Hispanic” in the bush administration that day? Gonzo gets love, respect and loyalty from us when he does SOMETHING to help his people. The left don’t hate Gonzo cause he’s hispanic nope we don’t like him cause he’s bush’s puppet.
el magnifico appears to wear a vaseline hat
I’m weirdly reminded if Ian Fleming’s Live and Let Die. It has some racist elements and is clearly the product of a racist time, but in some ways its central plot is rather anti-racist. In any case, I’m particularly thinking of the part where the villain, Mr. Big, talks of his ambition to become the first great black criminal mastermind. Gonzales may yet have the distinction of being the highest ranking latino official to resign in disgrace. But I guess that’s not the kind of historic accomplishment Mr. Navarrette is looking for.
Eli @ 78
confusing, no?
TRex @ 88
Double ding. If we were talking about Jews or gays, we’d be calling those types self-haters.
eCAHNomics @ 84
Possibly a threefer.
(Threefer MADNESS!!!)
ok, obu torture has been given a new dialogue by turdo…now it’s attack…check this out, this is BIZARRE
talk about morons, check that out…”there is no evidence”.
do they think WE are moronic as they are…this new tact has me STEAMED
Redshift @ 90
This reminds me of Chris Rock saying that he’d know that racism was “over” when there is a black NFL coach that he hates.
Nice Pach.
Rubenel (el?) mocoso’s column gets picked up by the SF Chronicle. Reading it leaves one wondering where the $%&* he comes from. Infuriating.eCAHNomics @ 84
I’m in complete agreement, she hasn’t done shit since coming in w/ the administration. I just said she’s competent, maybe I should have said intelligent or a brilliant dominatrix
AZ Matt @ 73
If the “think” tanks are wingnut welfare, this is wingnut affirmative action.
Redshift @ 98
Good way of looking at it.
kirk murphy @ 86
MATTHEWS: It is like we are at war — we have killed 15,000 people that died over there in that war, we still get guys knocked off every couple of days, a couple more guys are killed — and yet it is not on the tube. It’s like, are we bored with the war now? Is that the new thing? We don’t cover a war guys are fighting? And I watch the news, I don’t see the war any more. It has been taken off television, and Bush must love it. Certainly Karl Rove loves the fact that the Iraq War has gotten boring for the American people.
IMUS: It probably had something to do with the tainted spinach, you know, if you’ve been thinking about it.
MATTHEWS: How can we be in a war and not watch it?
IMUS: Well, I don’t know, that’s a good question.
[snip]
IMUS: It must make you uncomfortable to read Frank Rich’s book, “The Greatest Story Ever Sold,” because it’s Frank’s essential thesis that they sold us this bill of goods — the administration did, you know Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld all them about the Iraq war — and it was you and the rest of the media went along with them…
MATTHEWS: Me?
IMUS: …like enablers with an alcoholic.
MATTHEWS: No. no. no. no. Don. Dono. You can check everything. Get your Nexis-Lexis out. Get your google out. Every column I have written from the day they started talking about Iraq has been against it. Now you are chuckling because you know damn well you’ve pulled my chain here. I have been a voice out there against this bullshit war from the beginning.
IMUS: OK, well, except you then.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..ainst-war/
; )
Bustednuckles @ 48
Gonzo can’t curtsy on his knee’s and that’s how he GOT to where he is now. Not by being a great man rising above obstacles but by going along to get along.
Unfortunately CNN.com likes Ruben. Guess it’s because he helps their ‘diversity quota’ stay high.
Where does he get the idea that liberals look at the skin color and ethnic origin before deciding what they think of someone? That’s more a conservative habit, from what I can see.
Disagree again. My earlier example of her speech shows she is NOT intelligent. (There is an equally good example of when she moved to State & made her maiden–pun intended–speech about how she was going to revolutionize the dept. including, among other similar ideas, having more diplomats who spoke the local language.) As for dominatrix, I’ll leave the inuendo up to the guys on the thread, but wrt her job, she dominates nothing.
Leading this lynch mob are white liberals who resent Gonzales because they can’t claim the credit for his life’s accomplishments and because they can’t get him to curtsy. Why should he? Gonzales doesn’t owe them a damn thing.
It always cracks me up how the republic party pretends to give a shit about minorities at the same time they are fighting like hell to cut entitlements and education.
P J Evans @ 103
He assumes everyone thinks the way he does.
I posted this earlier today from the LA Times but with this discussion I think it is worth mentioning again. The polls show a ejection of the Republicans and it ain’t just the war.:
I took a Spanish refresher course in 2003. One thing I noticed was the lack of resources on the web that kept abreast of new techno-language. That has changed. There are now many sites that can help with common terms for conversion of a web site from English to Spanish or vice versa, for instance.
But I still can’t find any good Spanish/English/Spanish sites that keep up with the development of internet slang, abbreviations, text messaging and so on. I’ll tell you what, if somebody put together one of those laminated sheets with this kind of stuff on it in a hip and well-informed style, it would sell like hotcakes at campus bookstores from Buenos Aires to Vancouver, from Madrid to Glasgow.
Wil @ 98
Rice was a disaster on Reagan/Bush 41 ’s NSC. She was a disaster as provost at Stanford. She was a disaster as Bush 43’s NSA. And she’s been a disaster as Sec. of State.
Gotta give her credit for consistency.
Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds. Point proved.
Boy it is hard not to make racist statement when this moron Ron Christie talking about “a terrorist jerk hiding in Baghdad waiting for us to leave”.
Good for you Pach, I read that piece yesterday and thought WTF?
Ed*ard Teller @ 107
Especially since the whole point of this is to keep us old people from knowing whatup!
Eli @ 44
True, he’s a little behind the curve on that. Maybe he’ll have a Jay Carney/Saul on the road to Damascus moment at some point.
allan_in_upstate @ 109
I thought she was pretty good when she said “nobody could expect airliners to be used as missiles”…man, that was GREAT, it looked like she actually believed it
she was also great when she said “that was a historical document” when the brif showing the president was informed when, who, how, what and where we would be attacked with these “missiles”
but really, I have never given her any kind of credit, either professionally or intelectually
Cujo359 @ 59
Organisms with bilateral symmetry.
(no offense intended to coelenerates, molluscs, cephalopods, echinoderms, and other fine radial symmetrics.)
LS @ 36
Yup. Ask Ruben how he feels about BushCo putting little kids in jail. In America.
Mentioned above, but I’ve lost it, from thinkprogress:
These guys continue to try tactics that fail when you’re behind. Going on the offensive (pun intended) politically only works when you’re ahead.
does anyone else find it amusing that congress did this vote on a *friday*?
take THAT you bushies!
:)
ouch, ouch, ouch
I retract, retract, retract
twolf1 @ 106
As Molly Ivins pointed out, Republicans are all about the projection, baby.
Looking at “Hardball”. Ron Christie is hopeless.
There was no excuse to attack Iraq, no matter what Mike Barnicle says to Matthews.
I don’t think Gonzales is a mediocre talent, he was a corporate lawyer, overcome alot of things to get into Harvard, got a job with one of the top law firms in Houston. He would do fine in a competent role in a law firm in city like Houston.
HOWEVER!, he has risen a couple levels beyond competency a la Peters Principle. He was completely out of his depth as White House Counsel, and wasn’t trained or learned on the job what was needed to advise the President. Given how he was out manuever again and again by Cheney’s Staff and David Addington, shows how poorly he served the President and the Nation. The Torture Memos will always be tied to him, much like “Triumph of Will” is tied to Leni Riefenstahl.
Ditto with his selection to Attorney General, people warned that he should never been nominated, for the reason why people wanted to fire him now. (except the person who is getting what he wanted out of Attorney General Gonzales, President Bush)
The problem with Gonzales is that he never had any sort of political base or independent political standing. He has been promoted thru Bush, and probably like Bush, has been spoon fed what he wants to know, not what is going on in reality..
What is also sad about this, is that Gonzales as Attorney General makes Ashcroft at least come across as semi-competent and have some sort of backbone. Ashcroft had enough time and experience to know when to stand up to the White House or know when to pick a bureaucratic gunfight. (This is probably the only time, I would say anything nice about Ashcroft, he drove me up the wall, however in perspective he did stood up to Bush on the Wiretapping program)
I see Gonzales as more of a Falstaff than a Iago. However he crossed the line many times about his interpretation of the Constitution, and then of course blatanly lying to Congress in a scandal completely of his own making. His actions during his reign at Justice shows that not why this scandal happened, but why it took so long? He pretty much was an enabler for any crazy scheme coming out of the White House, and that was so sad. He is not incompetent but he went down a road to rise to a level of incompentence. He could easily avoided it, if he stayed back in Texas…
Phoenix Woman@119
I don’t suppose you have a reference? I’ve been saying this for years. I’m also a great fan of Molly, but I never saw her column on this subject. I’m sure she said it much better than me.
Phoenix Woman @ 121
I appreciate the fact that there are many, many Ivinisms available for all sort of Republican BS.
Wi l@ 67 asks: “(What’s a time slip, is it related to those billables I keep hearing about here?)”
I somehow suspect you’re being a bit facetious but you’re supposition is correct. Law offices and consulting firms are ALL about billable hours. The only way to know is by reconciling the time slips/time sheets (Some firms use one term, some the other, and some both). The fun is that some places “require” to the 8th of an hour (especially with DoD work). Others round to the nearest quarter or half hour. This is especially so if dealing with a lot of smaller projects or clients. Big clients or cases the worker can generally get away with whole hour billing.
Hope this helps if it was not a facetious request… :})
just think of this guys, abu torture is actually saying that it’s “irresponsible to try to find out their reasons for firing these prosecuters”
think about that
perris @ 127
Don’t you care about who’ll protect our kids?
If I were a Democrat, or for that matter a Republican, looking at the failure of U.S. policy in Iraq, how smart would I have to be to say that my vote to attack Iraq was a mistake?
dakine1@125
Thanks for the clarification, I knew they were related to billing, but you just took the time it’ll take to train me in half.
Here is NO Justice when kids suffer. From the LA Times:
Ya but I think his version of protecting our kids means regulating internet communications. I mean what else could they want?
Link to the Texas Abuse story in the LA Times.
egregious @ 132
Are the toobz big enough to fit a kid through?
Comadrejo@121
I posted a long article @10, indicating not only Gonzales’ plusses, but also the emotional baggage he carries, like alchy father, druggy sister. Here’s the end of the article:
I’d say he’s way above where the Peter Principle would have taken him. He’s always had that deer-in-the-headlights look, and it also looks like he wears diapers.
The description of him as a consigliere (sp?) strikes me as accurate. If I remember The Godfather, the consigliere worked behind the scenes.
AZ Matt @ 131
After all these years, Nixon’s still screwing Latin Americans.
Sure could hold a grudge.
eCAHNomics @ 135
This is a Bush administration trademark. Somewhere between 50% and 99% of the people working for him are at least two levels above their Peter Principle level of incompetence.
OT but a C&L video of David Obey slamming the WaPo on the House floor:Crooks & Liars
Eli @ 128
Never fear! Super Gonzo is here!
twolf1 @ 139
But where’s Dubya’s furry pal Grover?
dakine01@124
Can’t resist the lawyer joke.
Lawyer arrives at Pearly Gates. St. Peter has on party hat, champagne, crowds surrounding him, big welcome. Lawyer, looking puzzled, asks what it’s all about. St. Pete says they want to welcome the oldest man ever to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Lawyer says he’s only 75. St. Pete says no, we’ve added up your billable hours and determined that you are 141.
AZ Matt @ 132
WTF!! The feds pass on prosecution even though the kids are wards of the federal gov’t? This seems to be a USA that needs to be looked.
tweety doing a story on netroots right now.
ActBlue mentioned
Muzzy @ 143
Kos and HuffPo too…
After all these years, Nixon’s still screwing Latin Americans.
Sure could hold a grudge.
And Nixon is in Gonzales County, hmmm
Wil @ 130
You’ll also become quite familiar with terms like standardd work year (2080 hrs, 40 hr week X 52 weeks). The whole key is getting the proper charges to the proper client. When I worked DoD, this was one of my “extra” tasks. We only had one contract but multiple projects within that client and contract. A lot of days, I spent anywhere from 15 minutes for one project to an hour for another. Most pay periods, my timesheet had anywhere from five to ten lines on it with differing amounts of time but everything had to add up to 8 hour days and 40 hour weeks.
We were occasionally directed to account for ALL hours worked if the project could accomodate that but that was always a grey area. As exempt staff, we didn’t get OT but on cost plus contracts, we could sometimes bill the client for hours over 40. Standard corporate rip-off…
Fiore toon
Don’t Askiversery with Right Wing Ralphie
Great Animated Cartoon!
eCAHNomics @ 141
Fortunately, I’m not a lawyer, but the consultant could fit in there as well…
twolf1 @ 144
Aw man. He’s going to ignore FDL because I refused to sign his book, isn’t he?
Hardbawl just did a segment on netroots. Decent job. Got a lot wrong–way too much focus on myspace–but got some things right, like ads are cheap and connect with a small, but INFLUENTIAL, part of the voters. But is was a breakthru in the sense that it was presented in an informational tone, with no snide remarks about lefty nutcases.
Wil @
45
Congratulations Wil, I’m sure you will still find time to stay in touch, FDL is addictive!
emptywheel@141
Probably better NOT to be mentioned by Tweetie.
JeffinBerlin @ 150
You’re telling me, I skipped interviews during the Libby trial. Thanks
emptywheel @ 149
How come you refused to sign his book?
eCAHNomics @ 135
It’s called the Dilbert Principle – person who represents the Peter principle then gets promoted BEYOND their level of incompetence.
dakine01 @ 155
If you promote them *enough* times, maybe you’ll find a position they’re good at!
emptywheel @ 149
Marcy! Gracious – surely you jest!
(Clutches pearls)
Eli @ 156
That hasn’t worked for George W. Bush.
Eli @ 156
Naw, then they just become the pointy haired/pointy headed boss. Kinda like Chimpy…
Badwater @ 158
I guess there’s always Chief Justice, or Pope.
On Raw, so taken with a grain of salt
“‘Partisan records’ of Bush’s new US Attorneys; one accused
of helping to suppress Democratic vote in Florida: Soon…”
No story, just the headline, could be delicious, and I have to work all night, crap
Frank Probst @ 154
Well, not refuse so much as remained oblivious to his presence just 5 feet behind me asking for a signature.
When I live blog, I get a little, um, focused.
That’s because he hasn’t been promoted enuf–not yet God.
emptywheel @ 162
You were doing actual work. A concept that he is probably unfamiliar with…
Gonzo should have asked James Knodell (the invisible security hologram)to authorize clearance. Boo Hoo.
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..zales-ltr/
navarette and gonzales
cardboard people have cardboard heroes
i am glad you provided your last year’s post to flesh and blood heroes, pach, your own family, thanks
I’m finding the “Abu Gonzales” both misleading, and according this poor excuse for a moral man entirely too much respect.
In contemporary Arab culture, “Abu” means “father” or head of family. Do you want to be calling him “Father Gonzales?”
As an alumnus of The California State University, all I can say to Mr. Navarrette is fuck you very much. I’ve met Richard Rodriguez, and while I don’t agree with him down-the-line, it’s very clear that I have a lot more views held in common with him than with Navarrette.
The difference between Harvard (and Yale and …) and Fresno State is that not many FSU faculty give “gentlemen’s C’s,” and consequently FSU isn’t going to produce a dead-ender like the Dim Son. Bushie would have flunked out of Fresno State — the Dean and campus President might have caught some flack for it, but that’s as far as it would have gone.
Also, the best students on any CSU campus can compete with the best students anywhere. The difference is in the depth in the classroom. On a CSU campus there will be a few standouts, at a highly selective school there will be lots of them.
My favorite Dim Son educational truth: He applied to both UT Law and Harvard Business School. UT Law passed on the opportunity, but Harvard Business School accepted him It says something about the connections, doesn’t it?
BC
Carol Anne @ 167
How about Santa Ana Gonzales. Goes right along with Jim Bowie Bush.
Wil @ 161
Story up now. Relates to Griffin’s work for Rs in 2004 & cites Josh’s work. I thought I remembered that Griffin was in FL in 2000, but I could have that wrong.
Carol Anne @ 167
The reference is to Abu Ghraib … Gonzales did a lot of the (snark) heavy legal lifting (/snark) that made Abu Ghraib a disaster waiting to be exposed.
BC
fyi new thread
http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..ly-buried/
Carol Anne: If I’m correct, the “Abu” refers to Abu Ghraib prison…
Carol Anne @ 167
Those are the kind of people that hitch themselves to George W. Bush.
eCAHNomics @ 170
Yeah, and what about the money that Harris got and tried to give back?
Bargain Countertenor@168
CW is that Ivy-s are know for contacts, not education, though it is not impossible to get the latter.
Wil @
153
Wil @
153
Yay Wil! You’re in my favorite city.
Is the Sanitary Tortilla Factory still open on 3rd Street? I miss the food, the air, everything.
He looks like a Teletubby too!!!
Firedoglake showcasing a Trojan Horse?
Coup-de-theatre at Firediglake?
“Didn’t they teach you about that at Harvard?”
Actually, I was Ruben Navarette’s section leader in a course on, among other things, those very topics, at Harvard. So it’s not lack of coursework that explains it.
I’m late to the party, but go Pach!!!
You have the gravitas to call Ruben out.
hilzoy @
180
Hah! How about that.
I have my own Ivy entanglements, so I didn’t really imagine the curriculum had been lacking.
Ruben, are you upset that the Republicans targeted Henry Cisneros? Did the Hispanics “make” the Republicans “pay” for that overblown illegality?
Pach, you nailed Navarette. The phony “neutral” image he fosters was launched by the San Diego Union-Tribune, which had just forced out James O. Goldsborough, the only “liberal” (and excellent) columnist on the staff. The paper introduced Navarette as a man of no particular political persuasion (but not so alliteratively), and he’s been pretending ever since.
In my opinion, he has a third-rate mind and the writing skills to match. Plus everything you said about him. But when he came to the paper, the U-T had an even worse columnist (now spending more time with his family) who harped endlessly about the myth of global warming and instructed poor single mothers to get married immediately. Compared to Joseph Perkins, Navarette didn’t look so bad.
Until I read his columns.
Wil, congratulations on the new job!
And the legal boondoggle in re Henry Cisneros, Mr. Navarette?
The fact is the anger with this Attorney General stems from his cronyism with the President and his support for stripping the 4th Amendment and Habeous Corpus from our legal system. It’s not the left that has problems with Latinos, not historically and not now. Latinos have proudly been part of the American left wing. It is a sign of the success of leftward politics of the 60s that we even have a Latino Attorney General. It is a sign of George Bush that our Latino Attorney General is both inept and has no regard for checks and balances among the branches of government as mandated by our Constitution.
ElBurpo Gonzales must resign for the plain and simple fact that he is a liar, and an incompetent one at that. He is not the premier upholder of the American Constitution. He is by all evidence first and foremost the instrument by which the CheneyBush syndicate controls the formidable office of the United States Attorney General. If Karl Rove is Bush’s Turd Blossom, ElBurpo must be Turd Wipe.
ElBurpo knows how to curtsy. He does it very well for the fascist NeoCons. He bends over backwards like a double jointed whore to accomodate his masters’ dictates. He’ll even bend forwards and wish for the always missing reach-around just to keep his owners satisfied.
Ruben Navarrette, you envious pandejo, ElBurpo Gonzales is on the way out, no ifs, ands or butts about it. On his way out simply because like you, he’s just too stupid see that bullshit don’t wash.
Exactly what did Alberto Gonzales know, and when did he know it, concerning Mark Foley, a fellow Republican, who had a sexual predilection for young House pages?
And did Alberto Gonzales, after Foleygate broke with a fury into pre-election news last October, use his position as Attorney General to get as many Republican-appointed federal prosecutors as possible to bring bogus voter fraud cases against Democrats in an attempt to replace negative news coverage of Foleygate with negative news coverage of alleged Democratic improprieties?
Is this why the Gonzales-controlled Justice Department is stonewalling (obstructing justice?) in not releasing all the emails related to the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys last December, two months after Foleygate hurt Republican chances in the November elections?
And how does Alberto Gonzales resolve the contradiction between his statement the other day that he wants to keep his job so he can go on protecting the kids, when the FACT is, he and Karl Rove, being chief White House political strategists, MUST have known about Mark Foley’s sexual predator practices long before the late September 2006 revelations about his activities?
So many questions, and so few answers…so far.
So disappointed. Couldn’t he have worked in a snide comment about white people loving Taco Bell?
What a douche. You know, using the race card for why a bad employee should stay is racism too. Hispanics are no better than any other race. Let Ruben’s manager know @ 800/879-9794 or send them an email
Gotta correct your Spanish, Pach: that would be “presento,” meaning “to present,” but not “presiento,” which is the first-person singular of the verb “presentir,” which means to have a premonition.
Just because Bushie boy speaks shit-Spanish, doesn’t mean anybody else should.
[Typo fixed. Thanks! — Pach]