Alberto Gonzales: The Ultimate “Yes” Man

The testimony of Alberto Gonzales brought something to light that I had not considered: the impact of “Yes” men.  The Bush administration is known for having a single consistent message for nearly every topic.  They pride themselves on staying consistent with one message and for continuously being on that message.  It is one approach of many, but it is the trademark of Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to the President and otherwise known as “Bush’s Brain”.

People who work for a President, particularly at the White House senior staff level, have one thing in common.  Regardless of philosophy, ideology or any other "ology" they are smart people.  Smart people can be smart in different ways though.  One likes to think of the Kennedy administration as the gathering of great minds.  A White House so full of ideas it was bursting at the seams so to speak.  Every issue was debated, discussed, revised, rethought and further contemplated.

The Bush White House is different.  There are brilliant people there, but they have applied that brilliance to something else.  Alberto Gonzales, who is one of may who operates as a “Yes” man.  They know the President.  They know his message.  Philosophical debate isn’t necessary since they all agree.  The goal is to shape and protect the message.

The skill of the Bush “Yes” man was discussed at several points during Alberto Gonzales first day of testimony at the Attorney General confirmation hearings.  Senator Russ Fiengold did it best when during his time he was questioning Gonzales about the Texas death penalty cases.  When addressing one of the more troubling cases in the Bush era of death penalty history in Texas Gonzales wrote a final report to the then-Governor Bush for Bush to decide to either precede with the execution or stay the execution.  In this case being questioned by Feingold the defendant was a man sentenced to death while his lawyer slept through the trial.  In his summary, Gonzales didn’t even mention this fact.  It is very troubling that in a report that will be the man’s last chance for life the most important fact of the case was omitted from the Governor’s report, but this shows the reason Gonzales is the ultimate “Yes” man.

As a very bright lawyer, Alberto Gonzales knows how to summarize a case, without question.  But Bush was a man who had a solid anticrime position and would not allow himself to be seen as weak on crime or criminals.  Knowing that Bush would not stop the death, Gonzales shaped the facts to protect the decision Bush made.  There was no proof that Bush was aware or unaware of the mitigating circumstances.  There was no reason to be concerned.  The facts as presented would not interfere with the Bush staying on message regarding crime and criminals.

This approach was evident again in the report Gonzales wrote to support the policy that allowed torture to occur on the terrorist detainees. 

Now he is supposed to lead the Justice Department.  Does anyone believe that he will suddenly become a voice independence and champion of the citizen?  This is just one of many things we feared would come true if Bush was elected President, and it is a big one.

Comments

[Craig Gernhardt]

Would you write a story about "Yes Men" in the 49th Ward?

Or did I cover that topic already?

Thanks for the hypocritical reporting.