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Surpise Allies

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | May 26, 2009 | +

In the category of who’d have thunk to have asked goes this gem, kudos to the booker, from CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer today:

Alberto Gonzales: I think it’s a proud day for the Sotomayor family.  It’s a historic day for the Hispanic community. I don’t think that any gender group or ethnic group is entitled to representation on our courts.  I don’t think that the outcome of a case should depend upon the ethnicity or gender of the judge, any more than the outcome of a case should depend on the ethnicity or gender of the prosecutor or defendant. But, having said that, Wolf, this is a powerful message, a powerful message of hope and opportunity through this appointment, just like there’s a powerful message sent when an African-American is elected president or an African-American or a Hispanic is appointed as attorney general of the United States.  It’s a powerful message that a president listens to.  And this president obviously did. 

Gonzo’s comments come after Wolf pried out of him that Bush once considered nominating him to be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.

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  • gysgt213

    “after Wolf pried out of him that Bush once considered nominating him to be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.”
    .
    Phew! Dodged that bullet.

  • Emil

    “Wolf BLITZER”. He’s not the most exciting man, nor the best journalist, but at least he deserves to have his name spelt right.

  • Emil

    You might also want to correct the title. Sorry for the double post.

  • gysgt213

    Someone want to remind me why anyone cares WTF Gonzo has to say about this any way? Great get for the booker? Its not like Alberto didn’t have any spare time from his part time job now is it.

  • choska

    Yeah, hooray for the booker. Why does any one care what Gonzo – who thinks crushing a child’s testicles in front of his parents is A-OK – thinks?
    .
    Putting these monsters on television tarnishes our Republic. But then Jay thinks that Lindsay Graham is a “moderate” so she seems incapable of recognizing true evil when it sits in front of her and defends torture and murder.

  • sy2d

    That Wolf sought out Gonzo’s opinion on Sotomayor rates right up John Yoo posting his.
    *
    Who cares about these jokers think.

  • plukasiak

    I’m with those who find it offensive that AG’s opinions would be considered relevant. Just because he’s Hispanic doesn’t make his opinions worth hearing/reading about — especially given his role in supporting war crimes.

  • davidwaters1

    I hope that Sotomayor does a good job on the Supreme Court if the nomination goes through. The challenges that face the current government are enormous, so everyone must do their job. One of the biggest challenges that the Obama administration faces is doing more to address global poverty. The Borgen Project has good info on the estimated cost of ending global poverty:

    $30 billion: Annual shortfall to end world hunger.

    $550 billion: U.S. Defense budget.

  • gysgt213

    Must be a busy day if teh time reporters can’t spell any better than I can.

  • http://www.blakesthinktank.com/2009/05/26/obama-picks-sotomayor-for-the-supreme-court/ Blake’s Think Tank » Blog Archive » Obama Picks Sotomayor for the Supreme Court – - UPDATE IV

    [...] among Hispanics between 2004 and 2008. Also, not that Alberto Gonzalez is an authority on anything, but he did offer this gem to Wolf Blitzer: “this is a powerful message, a powerful message of hope and opportunity through [...]

  • FlownOver

    It says quite a bit – and nothing good – about Roberts and Alito that Former Clueless Leader even would have thought about Gonzo for SCOTUS.
    .
    I guess it also doesn’t say much good about Blitzer’s professional abilities that he asked Gonzo anything about anything.

  • sacredh

    I just got a resume from Gonzales in the mail. It’s pretty impressive, but I still don’t want him mowing my lawn.

  • sqr1

    Hell, given Obama’s stances on FISA, the State Secret privilege, and prosecuting torturers, Obama probably considered nominating Gonzales. Prying that out would have been a journalistic coup.

  • Art Pepper

    Next thing, they’ll ask Kissinger what he thinks about foreign policy. Oh wait, they do that …

  • yutsano

    I just got a resume from Gonzales in the mail. It’s pretty impressive, but I still don’t want him mowing my lawn.
    -
    I was going to ask if Gonzo has a job yet. Can we do a disbarrment just for mercy’s sake?

  • http://privcorr.blogspot.com/ wvng

    I will agree with Cliff #16, and concur with choska’s majority sentiment: “Yeah, hooray for the booker. Why does any one care what Gonzo – who thinks crushing a child’s testicles in front of his parents is A-OK – thinks?” Kurtz at TPM snarkily asked: Not Enough Hispanics in Rolodex?
    .
    However, there is a genuine problem for the media today. It’s not the problem flounder noted at Plum Line: .
    I think it is worth keeping track of the overall bias the traditional media shows during this period. I was listening to NPR’ Talk of the Nation, and they had 2 conservatives and zero liberals on to discuss the pick. I couldn’t listen to more than half the program, because Richard Vigurie [sic] was saying the same garbage he said when he had a whole segment of Talk of the Nation to himself last week.
    .
    I turned it to MSNBC and they had about a 2 : 1 conservative bias talking about Sontamayor. The bias is getting so bad, with this story and most others, that I don’t think even Howie Kurtz is going to be able to explain it away much longer.
    .
    The problem is that anyone who actually represents what the repuglican party stands for today is probably insane. There is literally no repug person in good standing for the media to talk to who is either not delusional or a lying sack of …..
    .
    Tis a problem.

  • sacredh

    Cliff: I want Gonzales, Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rove and Limbaugh to live very long lives. As long as they’re alive we can use them in campaign ads. It’s not wise to beat a dead horse, but we can sure as hell whip a live one.

  • sacredh

    That’s better. Although it certainly doesn’t mean that if they do croak I won’t be buying a cake and celebrating. We had a really nice “Burn In Hell” cake when Ron was called home to the land of fire and brimstone.

  • http://privcorr.blogspot.com/ wvng

    Let me amend Cliff’s amendment: “dies friendless, in a solitary room with blackout goggles and sensory isolating ear pads, in the room next to Cheney and Rummy, and Yoo, and …, all similarly isolated, never knowing they are right beside each other. In 2100. And all, like Jose Padilla, driven utterly insane.”
    .
    Too much?

  • sacredh

    “Too much?”
    PLEASE! That’s the trouble with us liberals. Never willing to take the extra step and go out on limb. I heard nothing about nipple-pinching clothespins, sandpaper buttplugs or Carpenter’s music played at earsplitting volume. Think outside the box.

  • formerlyjames

    The inept, criminal punks of the Bush administration just won’t go away, will they?

  • sacredh

    formerlyjames: The last thing I want is for them to go away. The longer they stay in the public’s eye, the longer people can be reminded of why they voted the republicans out of office in the last two election cycles. Having Cheney et al out there all the time spewing their venom is much more effective than having the democrats spend money trying to make them look bad. The battle between Colin Powell and Limbaugh/Rove for the future direction of the republican party is a gift. We don’t have to do anything.

  • http://deepbraindiary.com/2009/05/27/beefy-chunks-of-news-with-a-side-of-snark/ Beefy Chunks of News, With a Side of Snark | DEEP BRAIN DIARY

    [...] …because the FIRST and ONLY notable Hispanic I would want to talk to about the Sotomayor nomination if I were CNN is Fredo Gonzales. [...]

  • alaskanturkey

    Blizter always surpises me! What will she think of next?

  • Jay Newton-Small

    Blitzer has been fixed — apologies. I was not near a computer last night. JNS

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