Why we are so screwed

So Attorney General John Burntfarm has resigned.

Hold the applause. The nominee to follow him is White House counsel Alberto Gonzales.

The Washington Post notes that this is the guy who argued in a January 2002 memo that

the war on terrorism made the Geneva Conventions' limitations on treatment of enemy prisoners "obsolete" and "renders quaint some of its provisions,"

arguments that, as Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way told AP, "ultimately led to the Abu Ghraib prison scandals." In addition, the Post goes on,

[h]is office also played a role in an August 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel advising that torturing alleged al Qaeda terrorists in captivity abroad "may be justified" and that international laws against torture "may be unconstitutional if applied to interrogations" conducted in the U.S. war on terrorism. ...

Gonzales also publicly defended the administration policy of detaining alleged "enemy combatants" without access to lawyers or courts, a position rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June.

Despite that, this is the reaction from quoted Democrats:

"It's encouraging that the president has chosen someone less polarizing," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "We will have to review his record very carefully, but I can tell you already he's a better candidate than John Ashcroft." Another Democrat, Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, said the Senate generally allows the president to choose his own team and was likely to do so in this case. ...

Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the Judiciary Committee's senior Democrat, said he did not see Gonzales' nomination as contentious.

"Not contentious?" Someone who called the Geneva Conventions "obsolete" and "quaint," someone who was involved in twisting logic and law to justify torture, someone who argued that the president's actions are not reviewable by courts, this someone is "not contentious?"

Now, it's true that, with a 55-45 GOP majority, barring a major political upheaval Gonzales will be confirmed and the Democrats won't be able to stop him. But it looks like they are not even going to try.

And that's why we are so flaming screwed.

Footnote: My "Ewwww!" moment of the week, via AP:

"He is a calm and steady voice in times of crisis," Bush said, his eyes glistening with emotion as he stood next to Gonzales.

Oh my word. The next thing you know, the media, which has already transformed a 51-49 majority (safe to say that most of the spare 1% was anti-Bush) into a "clear mandate" and a "decisive win," will be calling him "Great Leader Kim Il Bush" and begging for the chance to be allowed to kiss the boot.