Gonzales Confirmation on C-Span Tomorrow Morning - A "No" vote is imperetive

The Gonzales confirmation hearings will be televised live on C-Span 2 at 10:45 AM Eastern tomorrow morning. You can listen to the proceedings online at C-Spans website. Tomorrow will be a huge day for the democratic party. This country has endured a very tough four year reign under the Bush Administration, and it is time for this country to begin fighting back against the injustices of this administration. The American public cannot afford to have a democratic party willing to kowtow to whims and desires of the Bush Administration.

Alberto Gonzales has been added to the complaint involving Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, looking to charge the two with War Crimes in Germany. Gonzales was added to the list of those charged with War Crimes, based on new evidence that administration officials were protected in the original investigation of abuse at Abu Ghraib. Rumsfeld was scheduled to appear at an international security conference in Munich next month, but had cancelled the trip, on fears that he may be put on trial if he sets foot Germany. I have since read at least one report that conflicted with this story, stating that Rumsfeld had alternate plans, but I'm am guessing that it is just spin.

The confirmation for Gonzales will not go smoothly. The confirmation for Condoleezza Rice went 57-13, but the 13 votes against was the highest number of contests against a secretary of state nominee since 1825. The Gonzales confirmation will be much closer. In the vote deciding whether the confirmation should even reach the house floor, the vote went on a straight party line: 10 votes from the republicans vs. 8 against by the democrats. This is a man who:

• Forever stained the reputation of the United States, and put the soldiers in the front lines in danger, by openly condoning and supporting torture
• Allowed the soldiers involved in the Abu Ghraib scandal to take the blame for his decisions of the administration
• Acted like a weasel when asked about said torture memos in the initial senate confirmation hearings
• Openly lied to the senate, under oath, while testifying about the fact that he had lobbied to keep Bush out of jury duty in a drunk driving case in 1996, because they didn't want the story of Bush's drunk driving conviction to get out into the public
  

Quite simply, promoting this man to attorney general would be a major mistake for the United States, sending the message that the country does not consider the torture offence to be a event significant of punishment. The United State's reputation in the world is already severely tarnished -- last week, the United Nations submitted an open plea to the world to help save the United States faltering economy, because the weakening US economy, budget deficit, and trade deficit are putting the global economy at risk - the US has become a charity case.

The democrats do not have enough votes to block the confirmation of Gonzales by themselves, and there are some democratic senators will likely still vote for Gonzales. There is hope that the conscious of enough republican senators will be swayed to begin the turn the tide of destruction wrought on this country by the Bush administration.

Some helpful links:

Send a letter to congress protesting the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales:

Here is a summary of recent news and articles regarding the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales, courtesy of Daily Kos.