Posted by Andrew Zajac at 6:45 a.m. CDT
Cobbling together reinforcements from police and Hispanic groups, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has launched a public relations counteroffensive to save his job, though it's not clear that the people running to his side so far extend beyond a very limited base.
Late Wednesday afternoon, the Justice Department released a string of letters of support for Gonzales. In his corner are: Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association; Fraternal Order of Police; National Latino Peace Officers Association; U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Hispanic Alliance for Progress Institute; Texas Association of Mexican-American Chambers of Commerce and The Latina Coalition.
Let's break it down:
-Apart from any fondness for Gonzales, the three police groups are beholden to Justice for law enforcement grants.
-The Hispanic groups either are very small, or Republican-leaning or both.
If Gonzales really had people fired up, the signatories would include the big Hispanic umbrella groups, like the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) or the National Council of La Raza, both of which endorsed him for Attorney General despite longstanding ties to the Democratic Party.
Here are some other moves by the A.G. to shore up support, according to the Justice Department:
-- The AG has already reached out to all of the U.S. Attorneys on a conference call to explain the department’s actions and he will be meeting in person with regional groups of U.S. Attorneys in the coming days, starting with St. Louis tomorrow.
-- The Department will also begin to engage each U.S. Attorney in a district-specific dialogue on how to balance the Department’s priorities with local challenges. DOJ wants to work with the U.S. Attorneys to develop a process which enables each U.S. Attorney to raise issues of mutual concern and discuss accomplishments of the office during the preceding year. The AG will be soliciting ideas from the U.S. Attorneys during these meetings.
-- On Wednesday, he had lunch with Senators Cornyn, Hatch, Kyle, Sessions. The AG has had lunch with several Congressional members over the last several weeks/months from both sides of the aisle. The US Attorney issue was discussed among other issues. The AG discussed the steps the Department has taken to ascertain all the facts and to cooperate with the congressional inquiry.
-- Also on Wednesday, the AG made a brief unannounced visit to the National Hispanic Leadership Summit where he also addressed the US Attorney issue among other issues. He was greeted with a standing ovation by the group and also received a standing ovation when he left and stayed for several minutes to take pictures and talk with audience members.
That last item sounds impressive, except that the leadership summit also tilts to the GOP and is closely tied to Republican activist Fernando Mateo.
• 
• 
• 
Comments
The Dems have to get better at running partisan organizations behind bipartisan-sounding names--Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, National Hispanic Leadership Conference, Competititiveness blah, blah, blah....etc., etc.....all great names to hide the fact that they're wingnut organizations.
Posted by: bb | March 22, 2007 8:10 AM
bb,
What makes the organizations you mentioned "wingnut?"
Posted by: Doug Zook | March 22, 2007 9:54 AM
Hmmm... So Alberto Gonzales may attempt to use his ethnicity as part of his defense? Why, that move would be unheard of in American politics! Certainly no one has ever stooped so low as to attempt to level charges of racism at anyone who would dare (legitimately) question the actions of a high ranking official or political candidate who happened to not be white. What is this country coming to? Good thing the "real Hispanic" groups out there aren't buying it.
Posted by: JB | March 22, 2007 10:36 AM
These trolls in the Whitehouse have no shame.
I can just hear W. talking to Gone-zales.
"It's OK that you broke the law while being "loyal" to me Alberto,just go out and tell the people that you're being picked on because you're hispanic,Cheney and I will back you up...wink,wink"
Posted by: John E. | March 22, 2007 12:01 PM
..."The Dems have to get better at running partisan organizations behind bipartisan-sounding names--Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, National Hispanic Leadership Conference, Competititiveness blah, blah, blah....etc., etc.....all great names to hide the fact that they're wingnut organizations."...
...as opposed to other right-wing organizations with names like the Ku Klux Klan, The John Birch Society, etc...
Posted by: The Original BZ | March 22, 2007 12:37 PM
bb,
What makes the organizations you mentioned "wingnut?"
Posted by: Doug Zook | Mar 22, 2007 9:54:47 AM
----
They're funded by the far right-wing and the push a far right-wing agenda, yet they don't have "Republican" or "Conservative" anywhere in their name.
It's really false advertising, but it seems to work. They're quoted by the media like they're purely objective with no axe to grind.
Posted by: bb | March 22, 2007 12:54 PM
So I guess the NAACP, AFL-CIO, NOW, Sierra Club and People for the American Way need to put the words Democrat or Liberal or Left Wing in their names, too? Or are they "non-partisan?"
Posted by: JB | March 22, 2007 4:40 PM
Well, if you're going to start naming unions, we might as well go all the way and name Walmart, Exxon-Mobil, Halliburton, the Tribune Company etc., etc., etc.....
All Republican fronts.
Happy?
Posted by: bb | March 22, 2007 4:46 PM
No democrat should let the words "remove Gonzales" cross their lips. They are stupid to want Gonzales to leave and this problem to go away. Do they not understand that Gonzales is Bush's problem. They are always trying to solve his problems. The feeble Iraq funding bill now waiting for 218 votes is another attempt to solve a problem by taking on the blame for the inevitable failure.Bush has to get out of there by next summer before the election. Let him do it by himself. Spend your energy on the Democratic agenda while continuing to point out the political meddling of the D.O.J. Spend time on projecting the human costs of Bush's open war plan.Ten thousand dead, fifty thousand wounded?One trillion direct costs and one trillion legacy costs?
Posted by: c. perry | March 22, 2007 4:54 PM
So I guess the NAACP, AFL-CIO, NOW, Sierra Club and People for the American Way need to put the words Democrat or Liberal or Left Wing in their names, too? Or are they "non-partisan?"
Posted by: JB | Mar 22, 2007 4:40:49 PM
------
And, by the way, they don't have to put "liberal" before their names, the media already does it.
However, the media acts like Heritage Foundation, American Enterprise Institute, Competitive Enterprise Insitute and other Republican "think tanks" are legit.
I would campare them to MoveOn.org, and when have you ever seen MoveOn.org not described as a liberal group?
Never.
Posted by: bb | March 22, 2007 5:12 PM