Since we heard the news of Gonzales' untimely demise as Bush consigliere, I have been worrying endlessly about Skeletor aka Michael Chertoff coming in as his replacement. Chertoff scared me, personally, because he is an incompetent, fear mongering buffoon. The thought of him heading the Justice Department after the stellar job he has done with Homeland Security is pretty terrifying.
This morning's breaking news has me shaking in my shoes: Joe Lieberman is a favorite potential appointee.
What's causing all the buzz this morning is the word that Joementum! is being considered to take the place of Bush's good buddy "Fredo" (Bush's nickname for Gonzales.) If Joe Lieberman were to take the Attorney General position, there are a few creepy potential outcomes:
1. Lieberman is appointed and vacates his Independent senate seat, allowing the Republican Connecticut governor to appoint his replacement, who will then usurp the Democratic senate majority. The only reason that control rests with Dems currently is the presence of 2 Dem caucusing Independents, Sanders and Lieberman.
2. Lieberman is a war monger on par with Gonzales. He LOVES this war on terror, and similar to Nazi lawyers at Nuremberg, has called the Geneva Conventions "quaint" as well as outdated. We'll see good old Joe pushing through wider allowances for torture especially once we invade Iran(his current pet issue.)
And there's a sentence in Judge Gonzales's opinion that has been quoted with great derision, laughter, as if it was over the edge. He wrote, "The new paradigm war on terrorism renders "quaint" some of the provisions [of the Geneva Conventions]."
I think Judge Gonzales was being restrained and diplomatic in using the word "quaint" to offer these benefits....
That is why I'm going to vote for Judge Gonzales and confirm his nomination, because nothing that I see in the record rises to a level high enough to overcome the presumption in favor of him as a nominee of the President. He has many outstanding qualities. I don't know if others have mentioned in this debate, but he has a certain independence of spirit, which I don't think has been much-commented on.
3. Tin foil hat scenario: Lieberman is appointed, serves for several months at which time Dick Cheney's pacemaker kicks it and he needs to resign. Lieberman becomes VP/president of the Senate, and seals his position as a running mate for the republican presidential nominee. 4 more years of Joementum.
Now I may just be freaking out for no reason here, but Lieberman has been a great Bush loyalist throughout this presidency. Lieberman is solid on all Republican issues, making him the ultimate nonGOP Republican nominee. Lastly, Lieberman's appointment would be extremely strategic on the part of the Bushies to give them back the Senate majority. What do you guys think?
Joe on Gonzo