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Today's Letters: Confidence in attorney general seems misplaced

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published April 25, 2007

I am a retired lawyer, having practiced in the New York City area for almost 50 years. My specialty was litigation.

With great interest I watched the testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. I have never seen a worse performance by a witness. He simply didn't know what he should have known and he didn't recall what he should have recalled. Of course, that's assuming he was telling the truth about what he didn't know and what he didn't recall.

Needless to say, President Bush felt compelled to favor us with his opinion of Gonzales' performance. According to the article in the April 20 St. Petersburg Times (Gonzales explains, but senators don't buy it), Dana Perino, Bush's current mouthpiece, said that Gonzales "has the full confidence of the president."

That opinion takes us back about a year and a half to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the woeful incompetence of the then-head of FEMA, Michael Brown. Bush was widely quoted as saying, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." What will it be this time - "Gonzie, you're doing a heck of a job"?

In the immortal words of one of our leading philosophers, Yogi Berra, this is deja vu all over again.

Edward Cheney, Sun City Center

Convenient memory lapse

President Bush claims to still have confidence in his attorney general. How is it possible to not recall more than 70 times something as important as the matters he was being asked about at the Senate hearings? He has a staff of dozens who can practically tell when he had lunch for the last six months, let alone brief him on the answers to the questions that were presented to him.

Rather than answer the senators' questions, Gonzales simply took the easy way out, which is standard operating procedure for those appointed by this administration. Yes, he was well briefed so as not to be caught in any lies. Confidence in him by the American people? I think not.

Jack Levine, Palm Harbor

Support for Gonzales dwindling April 21, story

Fatal support

It's my understanding that our president still has confidence in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He also supported Harriet Miers, Michael Brown, Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Donald Rumsfeld. Sounds like the kiss of death to me.

Phyllis Schuster, St. Petersburg

Packed jail set to free inmates April 20, story

Jailing to excess

When I read an article like this it simply makes my blood boil! No wonder governments don't have enough money to take care of the handicapped, the homeless and the elderly.

Public urination? Trespassing? Nonviolent drug charges? People are actually put into jail for such minor offenses? No wonder our neighborhoods are sprinkled with sex offenders.

When did jail become a dumping ground for people who could otherwise hold jobs and pay taxes? Personally, I want to see jailed those people who have shown a history of violence or crimes so egregious that they could be considered a legitimate danger to my children or family. I don't care if someone is smoking pot or committing some other victimless crime in their own home. Jailing someone costs almost $30,000 a year. That is an insane amount of money to spend on such minor crimes.

I am pretty conservative in my views, but the last thing I want to see is a nonviolent offender taking up jail space, while someone else is an actual danger to society. Please, only put in jail the people we should be scared of, not just the people that we're mad at, because if they weren't hardened criminals when they went into jail they certainly won't be any better when they come out, just more of a burden on society.

Aargh!

Kelly King Helenihi, Palm Harbor

Medicare drug bill blocked in Senate April 19, story

Whom does he serve?

Why did Sen. Mel Martinez vote to block consideration of the Medicare Fair Prescription Drug Price Act of 2007? If passed, this legislation would have allowed Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices to seniors.

Martinez obviously is responding to those he feels he represents. Could it be the seniors he voted to deprive of the right to pay lower drug prices? Probably not.

He obviously feels he represents the pharmaceutical companies. I hope all of us remember this when he asks for our vote when he runs for re-election.

Gail-Patricia Greer, Clearwater

Obama takes low road in massacre aftermath April 20, Charles Krauthammer column

Callow candidate

Despite my conservative background, I have admired the comments attributed to Barack Obama regarding various points of view on ideological matters. Until recently, that is. For him to equate the Virginia Tech massacre with the Don Imus remarks shows that he does need a little more seasoning.

I suggest that he try for the presidency again in 2012 or 2016. The recent Charles Krauthammer column expanded on his remarks in the usual expert Krauthammer style. Do not let Mr. K get away.

Bob Brindley, Seminole

Obama takes low road in massacre aftermath April 20, Charles Krauthammer column

Obama's honesty

My students and I were discussing the less direct violences of our world: prejudice, abusive language, poverty, etc., and then read Barack Obama's expressions of our very concerns. So we were shocked, not only that Charles Krauthammer took exception, but also that he attempted to twist Obama's statements to his own political views.

We sorely need more people like Barack Obama to dare to look and speak honestly. Also, it's ironic how the anger of the rhetoric Krauthammer throws at Obama reflects the hate in the face of Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho.

Elizabeth Bluangtook, Palmetto

[Last modified April 24, 2007, 21:31:56]