The penchant for mendacity and injustice among the cabinet of the Bush Administration makes it difficult to pick the absolute worst of Bush/Cheney's sadistic war criminals. That said, no one would argue that former A.G. Alberto Gonzales was certainly a standout for numerous reasons, including hard evidence of lying under oath about torture.
John Dickerson's Sunday episode of Face the Nation provided a forum for Gonzales to peddle his apocryphal tale, True Faith and Allegiance, which is hyped as a story of service and sacrifice in war and peace about his life and time serving the George W. Bush administration.
Dickerson requests more details about his account of Bush's SOTU address in 2007. Gonzales fondly recalls that he was the designated cabinet official who was kept safe, off-site, just in case a catastrophic episode wiped out the rest of those in line to serve as Commander-in-Chief. Gonzales glowingly reminds us of his fondness for putting people to death.
AG: ... I remember thinking, watching President Bush give the address that evening, and I would -- and I’ve advised President Bush through something like 50 federal and state executions, through two wars. So I’ve experienced a (sic)pretty big -- big moments with him before. But sitting on that airplane, it suddenly hit me, oh, my gosh, if something happened in Washington, would I and the people on that airplane be -- be -- be able to govern a wounded nation?
He fails to mention that he and his cohorts were hell bent on mortally wounding the nation from within, always diverting attention to external threats, like terrorism. History repeats itself with 2016's tyrannical GOP nominee, like Gonzales, incessantly resorting to fearmongering and hate. However, Gonzales didn't endorse Trump during the interview, citing the need for more evaluation. Dickerson reminded him that he's had plenty of time to decide about Herr Drumpf.
DICKERSON: It’s been 15 months. What’s to evaluate?
AG: He’s -- well, because he shifts positions from time to time and, you know, I don’t -- I don’t know Donald Trump. I don’t think I’ve ever met Donald Trump. And so I think being able to -- to know someone takes some time. And -- and I -- I know there are lot of good people that I that I trust and know who are not supporting him and what it tells me is that I need to study this man very, very closely. I don’t think Americans should make a decision based upon the recommendations of anyone else. For example, if I today said, don’t -- I don’t support Donald Trump, or I do support Donald Trump, I -- I wouldn’t expect other Americans to -- to follow my lead. I would expect them to do their own investigation, evaluation as to whether or not this is the right person for them and their families and to lead this country.
One could phrase that prolific mess of waffling more simply: Gonzales doesn't want to jeopardize his future aspirations by endorsing a candidate that could (and should) suffer a shellacking of epic proportions. He actually said, I don’t think Americans should make a decision based upon the recommendations of anyone else, yet all that stood between life and death was usually the highly insufficient recommendations of one Alberto Gonzales. (More on that below). How grotesquely ironic!
Dickerson reminded him about the infamous March, 2004 visit to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in his hospital room, attempting to acquire a re-authorization of the spying program. Gonzales, White House Counsel at the time, along with W.H Chief of Staff, Andrew Card managed to evoke disgust from then acting A.G., James Comey who said he
“witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man, who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me.”
Gonzales lied about his conduct, claiming he always acted in a lawful manner. Clearly he is still a supporter of waterboarding and he displays the contrition of a sociopath. If it weren't for the potential GOP defeat, he'd wholeheartedly endorse Trump simply because a Republican would never revive the transgressions of Bush and his gang of war criminals.
It's apt that we refresh our memory of Gonzales, since our brains offer a protective measure to dull the trauma inflicted by the Bush Administration. Bush's A.G. favored a rolling series of discussions about execution. He gave a human life no more than a few moments consideration, providing scant summaries which omitted volumes of information. Sadly, it was Alberto Gonzales who was the co-decider,
the only person standing between the executioner and a governor who made it abundantly clear he had little or no interest in granting clemency. (during Bush's tenure as Texas Gov.)
Where some might view this as a terrifying and formidable responsibility, Gonzales's "confidential" memos suggest that he saw his role as more of an expediter of his boss's preordained conclusion. Far from presenting an evenhanded or nuanced discussion of the case for and against clemency, Gonzales's execution summaries display a consistent prosecutorial bias. Not surprisingly, a disinterested observer relying solely on Gonzales's memos would probably do exactly what Bush did: deny clemency in every single case.
Obviously, the massive dumpster fire President Obama inherited prevented his administration from pursuing the prosecution of Bush and his henchmen: too costly, too time-consuming for Democrats interested in helping the majority. Many of us are waiting for these sadistic monsters to face a jury of their peers. Their day will come (we hope), but not if we somehow enable Trump and usher in a 'Fourth Reich' this November.
