Alberto Gonzales = Huge Disaster

At least that's what I told the Washington Post: "My sense is there is more cynicism about both these organizations, particularly among activists," [Villarreal] said. "My sense is that it's been a huge disaster having him there, for many reasons."

The article was about how many "Hispanic" groups are reconsidering their support for Alberto Gonzales - particularly LULAC and the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) who supported him vigorously throughout his nomination process. These organizations now say their support was a mistake or that he simply hasn't done the job they had hoped he would. However, these groups still refuse to admit that he was a disaster well before he was ever attorney general or even nominated.

Back in 2004 I wrote: "[Gonzales'] legal leadership has either directly or indirectly led to the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib, the illegal detentions at Guantanamo Bay, and the worst abuses of the Patriot Act. He authored a memo that could have come out of a decades old fascist regime, arguing that the President may authorize torture under certain circumstances, up to and including the death of the victim. His older opinions for then Governor George W. Bush allowed for executions of a number of inmates in Texas who had not received due process, where there was evidence of innocence, and, in at least one case, where the inmate was mentally retarded. The victims of these policies have disproportionately been people of color, and people with few resources."

Give a guy like that more power and it shouldn't be a surprise that he'd use that power as maliciously and irresponsibly as Gonzales has.