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Washington - Senate Democrats are considering filibustering Alberto Gonzales' nomination to be attorney general over his role in developing the Bush administration's policies on treating foreign detainees. No final decision has been made yet, but at least two Democrats - Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois - planned to urge the Democratic caucus Tuesday to consider filibustering Gonzales' nomination, said a Senate Democratic aide, who spoke on conditions of anonymity. A filibuster, a parliamentary tactic for delaying Senate action, would require Republicans, who hold a 55-44 majority in the Senate, to win over at least five Democrats - or four Democrats plus Vermont Sen. James Jeffords, an independent - to put Gonzales in office. Democrats were surprisingly united in opposing Gonzales in the Senate Judiciary Committee, something that was not achieved when they voted on current Attorney General John Ashcroft. The aide, who did not want to be named because discussions were being held in private, said Democrats believe Gonzales is directly linked with prisoner abuses that occurred at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and that allowing his confirmation would be akin to supporting the mistreatment. Democrats' opposition to Gonzales "derive from the nominee's involvement in the formulation of a number of policies that have tarnished our country's moral leadership in the world and put American soldiers and American citizens at greater risk," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said during a Senate debate Tuesday. Gonzales, who served as White House counsel during Bush's first term, would replace Ashcroft if confirmed. He would be the nation's first Hispanic attorney general. Whether or not a filibuster is mounted, a vote by the Senate on Gonzales' confirmation will not occur until at least Thursday, after Bush's State of the Union speech Wednesday night, GOP senators said. They said Democrats don't want to give Bush a success to talk about in his first State of the Union speech of his second term. "They want the bully pulpit all the way up to and after that to try to taint this nominee with the perceived sins of the Bush administration," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. |
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