Interesting Info on Alberto Gonzales

When I first heard that a hispanic man would be nominated to fill the role of Attorney General I was pleasantly surprised. Then, thanks to the wonders of the press, I was able to do some research about him. After researching him, the first thing that comes to mind is Haliburton!
Gonzales was a partner with a Houston law firm that had Haliburton as a client, and was also involved in suspicious dealings with Enron. He then, while a justice on the Texas Supreme Court, received a three thousand dollar bribe from Haliburton and refused to recuse himself from a controversial 2.6 million dollar case involving Haliburton. The Texas Supreme Court refused to hear the case, and Haliburton didn't have to pay the millions of dollars in damages.
So, the miraculous Alberto Gonzales, in the height of the controversy surrounding the cash-gift from Haliburton, continues his rise to prominence by joining G.W.'s White House staff as the Whie House counsel. There he fought like the devil to conceal the identities of the people on Cheney's secret energy task force.
So this guy's a real winner, eh? An ideal right-winger who puts the interests of the wealthy ahead of the common good. And let's not forget that he authorized the torture of the prisoners in Guantanomo and subverted the Geneva Convention. If this crook gets the nod from the senate, then it will truly be a dark day for America.
UPDATE: I challenge ya'll to provide me with some major accomplishments this fellow has made, that is besides maneuvering George Bush out of jury duty in '96. That's a pretty slick maneuever, maybe he will use his legal skills as the AG. Hoepefully, he won't get the chance. (Sources:
Nathan Newman, CommonDreams, 18 December 2000
David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle, 15 February 2002
David Johnston, James Risen, New York Times, 27 June 2004)
10,458 views 19 replies
Reply #1 Top
Here's an interesting tidbit on Halliburton...

Nobody but liberal straw men give a crap.
Reply #2 Top
SMEEEEEAAAAAAAR
Reply #3 Top
When I first heard that a hispanic man would be nominated to fill the role of Attorney General I was pleasantly surprised



Oh sure....how insincere.
Reply #4 Top
Waits patiently for further smearing of Powell, Rice and Martinez.
Reply #5 Top
I am happy to have an Hispanic in a position of power such as Attorney General and that is all I have to say about him.

March onward my Hispanic brethern, break the shackles that the "man" has put on you and seize power (though in a non-violent way).

Che Plinko!!
Reply #6 Top
bleedingheartliberal:

I think it is the first of many signs that the White House is not going to move towards any kind of conciliatory "healing" with the Democrats. There were many qualified individuals for this post that might have done both a good job and not have represented the narrow kind of views that Gonzalez does.

Conservatives will say this is the perfect appointment because W appointed him so he must be good. But instead of yelling SMEAR or calling bleedingheart names I challenge you all to research Gonzales and tell him and me the "good qualities" that you think qualifies him for AG.
Reply #7 Top
Why should I? I know Albert Gonzales - Im a Texan, and I've seen him moving in the halls of political power for awhile now.
The key is that when doing his research, bleeding could have been objective, pointing out that the bribes he writes of are alleged, and that none of what he has written is proven. He could have pointed out some of Gonzales's rulings, which are fair
But hell no, that couldn't happen. Instead we got a SMEAR JOB. So bleeding doesnt really give a damn about the facts. He doesnt care what Gonzales factual history is, and it doesnt matter a damn what I say to refute it. You guys wont listen, you just continue to SMEAR.

Look at those sources! Where are THE FACTS? I dont see anything listed from actual Texas court history, no transcripts. What I see are biased accusations. SMEAR!

SMEEEEEAAAAAAAR

And thats all you get from me. No reason to give you guys the time of day.
Reply #8 Top
d3:

Well, this is your chance to make a case for the guy and all I hear is that you want "instant replay" to prove that you're right. Hmmm.... you don't have to do anything but bleedingheat, who did provide something for consideration is doing a smear? I guess that's your way of conciliation between left and right......
Reply #9 Top
I smell an illegal alien amnesty in the works.
Reply #10 Top
Well, this is your chance to make a case for the guy and all I hear is that you want "instant replay" to prove that you're right. Hmmm.... you don't have to do anything but bleedingheat, who did provide something for consideration is doing a smear? I guess that's your way of conciliation between left and right......


So, when somebody posts something that places a person in the most negative light possible, it's not a smear?
Reply #11 Top
received a three thousand dollar bribe from Haliburton


Since when are campaign contributions bribes? Geez, if this is a bribe what is the $70 million or so Soros spent on the Kerry campaign? So you're assertion is that someone would risk their career for $3000? Seems like chump change, to me, for an attorney with his background. Also, I could find no mainstream (and what I consider to be rather liberal) print media that claims he took a bribe, all reported it as a campaign contribution.

Even that conservative paper, the L.A. Times (March 25, 2001) had this to say

From 1999 to 2000, Gonzales served on Texas' highest civil court, where he developed a reputation as a thoughtful and ideologically moderate justice.

Seems to me your characterization of a campaign contribution as a bribe speaks volumes about a certain Michael Moore type of intellectual honesty.
Reply #12 Top
The worst things that Gonzales has done was duing his tenure as White House Council. He is the person who infamously wrote the memo to the President saying he had the right to use torture against prisoners in Afghanistan. He advised the President that the Geneva conventions do not apply. He advised the President to have prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq rendered to countries who routinely use torture in violation of international law. Gonzales advised the President to support Patriot Act II which contains a provision allowing the government to arbitrarily strip Americans of their citizinship on mere SUSPICION that they are invovled with terrorism and that they too can be thrown into a legal black hole for eternity with no rights. These are not smears. They are facts.
Reply #13 Top
He is the person who infamously wrote the memo to the President saying he had the right to use torture against prisoners in Afghanistan.


Can you cite a reference to that memo, T_Bone?

Thanks,
Daiwa
Reply #14 Top
Yes, please share the memo with us or in my eyes it is not looking to good for you to make accusations without proof on a fellow Hispanic.

- Grim
Reply #15 Top

Reply #12 By: T_Bone4Justice - 11/11/2004 1:12:53 AM
The worst things that Gonzales has done was duing his tenure as White House Council. He is the person who infamously wrote the memo to the President saying he had the right to use torture against prisoners in Afghanistan


What he advised was that the geneva conventions do not apply to "enemy combatants". Which by the way they don't apply.
Reply #16 Top
I've found some information from 24news.com.

A September, 2004, article about an August, 2002, memo that was sent to the White House by the Justice Department in response to a CIA request:

The memo, addressed to White House Counsel Alberto Gonzalez, reportedly said torturing a suspect in captivity "may be justified" if the US government employee involved "would be doing so in order to prevent further attacks on the United States by the al-Qaeda terrorist network."


Note that the memo was sent to, not authored by, Alberto Gonzalez. Do we have any documentation about what Gonzalez advised the President specifically about torture, or is the memo referred to in this article the basis for the allegation that Gonzalez endorsed torture? There is a big difference. If the memo I'm referring to here is indeed the basis for the allegation, Gonzalez has gotten a bum rap.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #17 Top
Actually, the other thread on Gonzalez started by Myrrander has a link to a portion of the actual memo from Gonzalez to the President posted by psikotik. Seems, to me at least, to support the notion that Gonzalez has gotten a bum rap indeed.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #18 Top
I would love to provide the memo to you but unfortunately John Ashcroft refused to release it. But I think it's safe to assume that Gonzales passed the information to the president, along with reccommendations about how to side step the G.C., and in doing so tacitly condoned the use of torture. Is the the kind of Justice you want? Is this your post 911 America? The one in which we become monsters in order to capture the monsters? Isn't that how evil truly operates? It asks us to abandon our principles in order to save them. And please don't take this "fellow hispanic" rap. I understand that it would be a good thing to be represented at the excutive level but this is about character and principle not skin color. Grow up and learn to think independently.
Reply #19 Top
With folks like crennaman, it's "safe to assume" anything that justifies an opinion.

Cheers,
Daiwa