And back to Alberto Gonzales

The Senate confirmed his appointment yesterday. It was inevitable, but I'm proud that part of our country stood up against it. Don't get me wrong. I'm not naive enough to think that, of all 36 Democrats who voted against his nomination, there was no one who was really playing politics, and not so much protesting the appointment on principled grounds. If there were such Democrats, they did the right thing, but for very wrong reasons.

But I'm also stunned that not one single Republican Senator had a crisis of conscience over this appointment sufficiently large enough to overrule their own need to play politics. Not a single Republican Senator. The concerns over Gonzales, his positions on torture, and what his appointment says about our country--both to ourselvs and to the world--are not partizan, and not about politics. I just don't believe that the only reason one might have those concerns is because one is blinded by Democratic ideology.

So what happened on the Republican side? If one accepts my premise, than one can only assume that there were Republicans who did think it was wrong, but voted for Gonzales anyway, based on political calculation. Those Senators did the wrong thing, and for very wrong reasons.