[Peace-discuss] Democrats cave again

[C. G. Estabrook]

	February 1, 2005
	Democrats Won't Delay Vote on Gonzales
	By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
	Filed at 10:40 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats won't try to filibuster Alberto Gonzales'
nomination to be attorney general but will hold extensive debate over his
role in developing the Bush administration's policies on foreign
detainees, the Senate's top Democrat said Tuesday.

``There will be an up-or-down vote'' and no blockage, Senate Democratic
Leader Harry Reid of Nevada told reporters after the Democrats huddled for
their weekly planning session.

A filibuster, a parliamentary tactic for delaying Senate action, would
require Republicans, who hold a 55-44 majority in the Senate, to win over
at least five Democrats -- or four Democrats plus Vermont Sen. James
Jeffords, an independent -- to put Gonzales in office.

Reid predicted that at least 25 or 30 Democrats would vote against
Gonzales but said ``there was a decision made not to filibuster.''

Democrats were surprisingly united in opposing Gonzales in the Senate
Judiciary Committee, something that was not achieved when they voted on
Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ashcroft was confirmed by a 58-42 Senate
vote, the narrowest margin ever for an attorney general.

Democrats' opposition to Gonzales derives ``from the nominee's involvement
in the formulation of a number of policies that have tarnished our
country's moral leadership in the world and put American soldiers and
American citizens at greater risk,'' Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said
during a Senate debate Tuesday.

``How can the Senate possibly approve the nomination of Mr. Gonzales as
attorney general of the United States, the official who symbolizes our
respect for the rule of law, when Mr. Gonzales is the official in the Bush
administration who, as White House counsel, advised the president that
torture was an acceptable method of interrogation in Afghanistan,
Guantanamo and Iraq?'' asked Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.

Gonzales, who served as White House counsel during President Bush's first
term, would replace Ashcroft if confirmed. He would be the nation's first
Hispanic attorney general.

``I'm confident that Judge Gonzales will be confirmed with bipartisan
support,'' Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said. ``And I'm
confident that as attorney general, Judge Gonzales will continue to build
on the successes of the last four years that we've seen in reducing crime
and in fighting corporate fraud and upholding our civil rights laws.''

A vote by the Senate on Gonzales' confirmation will not occur until at
least Thursday, after Bush's State of the Union speech Wednesday night,
GOP senators said. They said Democrats don't want to give Bush a success
to talk about in his first State of the Union speech of his second term.

``They want the bully pulpit all the way up to and after that to try to
taint this nominee with the perceived sins of the Bush administration,''
said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Even though they are not filibustering Gonzales, Reid said earlier Tuesday
that Democrats are ``not going to cut and run'' from a battle over Bush's
judicial nominations.

``If they bring back the same judges we're going to do the same thing,''
Reid said of the administration.

Bush has threatened to renominate the 10 nominees Democrats blocked last
year, and Republicans say they will change long-standing Senate rules to
strip Democrats of their ability to filibuster if they try to stop them.

Reid sounded a note of defiance Tuesday. ``Well, let them do it,'' he
said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press