Gonzo Journalism

Cropping up on our little Sage window in Firefox was this instriguing headline from Slate. The Gonzales Game - Is he really the best Supreme Court pick liberals can hope for? By Emily Bazelon. Awesome! A hidden liberal for us to salivate over, and keep us warm until Rehnquist retires. Carefully nurtured away from evil influences like some judicial Luke Skywalker. Spent the last couple of years making a peculiar humming noise whenever abortion was mentioned. Top.

Except it isn't a list of other judges that the liberals might find acceptable. It's a rehashing of the idiocies perpetrated by Gonzales as AG for Bush in Washington and Texas, such as one might find in a recycled column. To explain VERY CAREFULLY to Ms. Bazelon, Democrats know that Gonzales has some very dodgy case work on Torture and Death behind him, and is certain to be a revolting corporate shill given half the chance.

But, he doesn't seem to want to overturn Roe vs. Wade, enrages the hard right, and will be very difficult to oppose given his background and the fact he's already been confirmed for a job by the senate. We are unlikely to get any better than him, since the rest of Bush's picks are fairly hardcore, as Bazelon notes shortlly after the enticing headline. Now bugger off to Legal Tatooine and find us the hidden liberal.

Tonight - probably not the Philharmonic in the park, more's the pity. No, tonight we alphabetise. And shall never hear tell of that again.