Thread: Bush takes fire over possible Gonzales nomination

From the Washington Post...

Bush Answers Gonzales Critics
President Decries Attacks From Right, Says Character Will Guide Nomination

By Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 7, 2005; Page A01

KONGENS LYNGBY, Denmark, July 6 -- President Bush tried Wednesday to quell the conservative criticism engulfing Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, his longtime adviser, and scolded special interest groups for exploiting the debate over the next Supreme Court justice to raise funds.

In his first news conference since Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement Friday, Bush said he will not require her replacement to pass a test on abortion or same-sex marriage. He offered a robust defense of Gonzales, the one potential nominee who has stirred vigorous opposition among the president's own conservative supporters.

In the wake of Bush's stern warning, delivered from his first stop on a European trip, many conservatives ratcheted down their rhetoric or went silent altogether, but others ignored the president and pressed their attack on Gonzales for not aggressively opposing abortion and affirmative action. Further fueling the debate over the potential nominee, Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) offered qualified words of support for Gonzales.

The continued focus on the attorney general underscored how the selection process has swiftly evolved into a Gonzales-or-someone-else choice. Whether Bush views it that way or not, senators and interest groups on both sides have concentrated their attention on Gonzales's record and perceived views on the theory that the president's friend and confidant has emerged as the front-runner. These lawmakers and groups are publicly discussing other possible candidates, almost all federal appellate judges, almost as if they were indistinguishable and relevant mainly as the alternative to Gonzales.

Bush seemed aggravated by the attacks on his friend, who followed him from Texas to Washington and served as White House counsel before taking over the Justice Department in February. "All of a sudden this fellow, who is a good public servant and a really fine person, is under fire," Bush told reporters at a news conference with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. "I don't like it at all."

Bush offered no clues to his thinking about various candidates but promised to probe the character, not the legal rulings, of prospective justices during interviews at the White House after he returns at the end of the week. Senators, he added, should ignore the intense pressure coming from partisan groups, which plan to spend an unprecedented $100 million to influence the choice.

"I hope the United States Senate conducts themselves in a way that brings dignity to the process and that the senators don't listen to the special interest groups, particularly those on the extremes that are trying to exploit this opportunity for not only . . . what they may think is right but also for their own fundraising capabilities," Bush said.

In hopes of bolstering his own lobbying campaign, Bush tapped former senator Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.) to escort the eventual nominee around the Senate. Thompson, who retired from public office two years ago to return to his acting career and now plays a district attorney on NBC's "Law & Order," will serve much as Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) did during the confirmation of Clarence Thomas in 1991.

"It's a smart thing to do because the people in the White House can't spend all their time on this" and Thompson is "extremely well regarded," said C. Boyden Gray, who was White House counsel to Bush's father and founded the Committee for Justice to support the current president's nominees.

Bush got support from an unexpected quarter Wednesday when Reid, the Senate's top Democrat, spoke out favorably about Gonzales and criticized "the far right" for attacking him while the president is overseas. "Alberto Gonzales is qualified," Reid told reporters in Las Vegas. "He's attorney general of the United States and a former Texas judge. But having said that he's qualified, I don't know if he'd have an easy way through."

The positive assessment contrasted with the broader Democratic critique of Gonzales for his role in drafting detention policies that critics say led to torture of suspected terrorists and other prisoners. Reid joined most Senate Democrats in voting against Gonzales's confirmation as attorney general in February. Reid stirred criticism from within his own party earlier this year for suggesting that he would vote to confirm Justice Antonin Scalia if he were nominated for chief justice.

Bush's entreaty to conservatives to stop assailing Gonzales was reinforced by White House allies making conference calls emphasizing that such internal division only helps the opposition. "There's a sense that the left is going to create dissension among the right, and the media loves that story . . . waiting for the president to tell the wackos to stuff it," said Sean Rushton, executive director of the Committee for Justice. "But the president and his staff have their eye on the horizon" and will not be drawn in, he said.

Bush got support from an unexpected quarter Wednesday when Reid, the Senate's top Democrat, spoke out favorably about Gonzales and criticized "the far right" for attacking him while the president is overseas. "Alberto Gonzales is qualified," Reid told reporters in Las Vegas. "He's attorney general of the United States and a former Texas judge. But having said that he's qualified, I don't know if he'd have an easy way through."

This confirms Bush's complete sell out to the left. Gonzales on the supreme court willl be a disaster. And you know that is who he will nominate, his old buddy and fellow open borders nut.

THERE IS NO WAY THAT THE PEOPLE ARE GOING TO ALLOW GONZALES TO GET IN THAT POSITION! HE WOULD CHOOSE ALL HIS 'OPEN BORDER BUDDIES' FOR EVERY OPEN POSITIN UNDER THE SUN!

Ted the town drunk Kennedy, Hitlery Rotten Clinton and that ambulance chasing puke Upchuck Schumer all approve of Gonzales. So if that doesn't tell you all you need to know about Gonzales then you need to get your head examined.

Good ones, Dman. My personal favorite is Limbaugh's "Dingy Harry" Reid.

Are we considered to be one of those special interest groups?

I'm sure Gonzales is probably qualified, he just needs to be less devoted to "My People" and more dedicated to the American people. This bothers me. This is not indicative of a good thing for America, in my opinion.

Last but not least, GWB can defend "his friends', but what about some great friends of the American people called the Minutemen. I believe he was a tad unkind to our friends, was he not?! (Vigilantes?) And that happened because he was trying to impress another one of his "friends".
(V.Fox) He's devoted to his friends alright, how about a little devotion towards the country.