ALL eight Democrats on the panel voted against the pig, Gonzales:.

Karenca

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Wed Jan-26-05 11:36 PM
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ALL eight Democrats on the panel voted against the pig, Gonzales:.

Edited on Thu Jan-27-05 12:35 AM by Karenca

Senate Panel Approves Gonzales on a Party-Line Vote
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

Published: January 27, 2005

ASHINGTON, Jan. 26 - The Senate Judiciary Committee, divided along party lines over questions of torture and accountability, voted 10 to 8 on Wednesday in favor of Alberto R. Gonzales's nomination as the nation's 80th attorney general.

The vote was much closer than expected, as all eight Democrats on the panel voted against Mr. Gonzales. Several Democrats who had indicated their support for Mr. Gonzales when President Bush first nominated him in November called Mr. Gonzales on Tuesday to say they would oppose him.
Democrats accused Mr. Gonzales of being evasive and "arrogant" in explaining the Bush administration's stance on the treatment of prisoners in the fight against terrorism. But his Republican defenders lauded him as a man of integrity and keen intellect whose Horatio Alger-like story - rising from poverty as the son of migrant workers in Texas - made him suited to become the nation's first Hispanic attorney general.

No Republicans have indicated any wavering in their support, and a Democratic senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it was very unlikely that the Democrats would seek to stall the vote on Mr. Gonzales through a filibuster. Democrats are eager to save their political ammunition for the expected fight over future Supreme Court vacancies.

But the Judiciary Committee's narrow endorsement, a day after many Democrats attacked Condoleezza Rice on the Senate floor over her nomination for secretary of state, signaled the minority party's willingness to do battle with the White House over another high-profile nomination, and Republicans acknowledged their disappointment over the strong show of opposition.

One by one, the eight Democrats at the committee meeting attacked Mr. Gonzales's record at the White House, saying he had devised policies that led to prisoner abuses in Iraq and Guant�namo Bay, Cuba. Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Gonzales was too much of a "blind loyalist" for Mr. Bush to be an independent attorney general.
Senator Russell D. Feingold, Democrat of Wisconsin, surprised some colleagues by voting against the nomination. Mr. Feingold, the only Democrat on the committee in 2001 to vote in support of John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general, had traditionally given the president broad deference to pick cabinet secretaries. But like other Democrats, Mr. Feingold said he found Mr. Gonzales's testimony at his confirmation hearing earlier this month "deeply disappointing" and said his actions at the White House on torture policies called into question "his commitment to the rule of law."

"Time after time," Mr. Feingold said, "Judge Gonzales has been a key participant in developing secret legal theories to justify policies that, as they have become public, have tarnished our nation's international reputation."
Democrats continued to press for White House notes or documents that might shed light on Mr. Gonzales's role in developing a Justice Department opinion in 2002 - since disavowed - that gave a narrow definition of torture. A search by the White House last week produced no such records, officials said on Wednesday.

Carl Hulse contributed reporting for this article.
FULL ARTCLE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/27/politics/27gonzales.html