‘Candidate’ Gonzales starts making the rounds

July 7, 2005

If we use the framework of a full-fledged political campaign to consider the Supreme Court nominating fight, I think it’s fair to say that Alberto Gonzales is, at a minimum, acting like a candidate.

As speculation swirled in recent weeks about a vacancy on the Supreme Court — and the potential that Mr. Gonzales might be nominated — the attorney general has met with numerous conservative organizations that have expressed reservations about him.

Although several conservatives said privately that Mr. Gonzales appeared to be lobbying for support, no one agreed to say that on the record and several people said flatly that Mr. Gonzales’ visits with conservatives are unrelated to the Supreme Court opening.

Interesting. As soon as speculation picked up about a pending high court vacancy, Gonzales started making the rounds of conservative groups in DC.

* The Heritage Foundation hosted a discussion on the Patriot Act, and there was Gonzales, reminding the powerhouse think tank that he shares the group’s priorities.

* Paul Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation and Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform hosted a luncheon for dominant conservative leaders, and there was Gonzales, expressing his “gratitude to people in the conservative movement.” In fact, it was Gonzales’ office that initiated the invitation to the meeting.

* Laura Ingraham’s right-wing radio talk show reaches a broad conservative audience, and there was Gonzales, appearing on the program recently.

* Conservative Bush loyalists use the war in Iraq as a litmus test of sorts, and there was Gonzales, visiting troops in Iraq for the Fourth of July.

I suppose it’s possible that this is a coincidence and Gonzales was visiting leading conservatives just to be respectful, but given the context, it sounds like a) he’s aware of the right’s suspicions about his ideology; and b) he’s trying to impress them before Bush makes his choice for the Supreme Court.

Okay, maybe I’m paranoid, but all of this supposed “outrage” on the right that Gonzo might be the appointee, smells fishy to me. The citations in this article are pretty convincing as to the AG’s conservative chops. Could it be that the protestations from the far right are calculated to blunt any criticism from the blue side of the aisle that Gonzales is in fact a reactionary ideolog? Hmmm. If James Dobson is cool to him, could he really be that bad? Damn right he could.

  • What I love about the Gonzales ‘candidacy’ is that it has turned the world, if not upside down, at least ninty degrees. ‘Movement Conservatives’, who were and according to Bob Novak still are, the President’s ‘Base’, have now become the right wing ‘Extreme’ according to Bush. Novak says Gonzales is not a Conservative, nor was Sandra O’Connor. If, as Novak says, O’Connor is a social liberal, and by implication so is Gonzales, does Bush’s acknowledgement that there is a wing of the Republican Party to the right of him mean that he too is a ‘Liberal’.

    Novak shouldn’t imagine he has the right or perspective to call anyone a Liberal. He is so far to the right he can’t even see the Center. He is so confused by shades of conservatism (like between Tony Blankley and Pat Bucannan) that he has no understanding of either liberalism or moderation.

    What fascinates me about the accusation that Gonzales is not ‘Anti-Abortion’ enough is that it is base, in part, on his ruling as a Texas Supreme Court Justice that a lower court judge had decided correctly to allow a minor to have an abortion without parental notification. As Gonzales said, “Thus, to construe the Parental Notification Act so narrowly as to eliminate bypasses, or to create hurdles that simply are not to be found int the words of the statue, would be an unconscionable act of judicial activism.” Apparently Movement Conservatives believe Judicial Activism is wrong only if it’s used by the other side, they want to use it to rewrite any law they don’t like.

    And if Gonzales gets Bush’s nod, which I think increasingly likely, just note that I predicted here in an earlier comment 😉

  • Well, this shows what kind of “conservative” Gonzales is (*none* of them are “conservative” anyway– they’re radicals!). Gonzales is an anti-government, corporate-feudalism radical, as well as a war-hawk. So of course he met with the Norquist whackos and the Neocons. That’s only two elements of the “guns, god, and greed” triumvirate that props up the Repug party. Noticeably absent are the “god” crowd– and they are the frothing nutcases who are howling about his nomination.

    I’m glad to see that Gonzales is incapable– or unwilling– to reach out to the Christian Taliban. If he gets approved, I want him to shun those maniacs anyway. And, even better, if he pisses them off before or during his confirmation fight, he can open up a huge rift between the Christian Taliban nuts and the corrupt, greed-worshipping corporate fat cats that hold the real power in the Repug party.

  • It would be interesting to know how many such gatherings John Ashcroft attended during his tenure as Attorney General. The difference, if any, would be illuminating.

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