Worthless Twice Over ...

is James Grimmelmann's assessment of Alberto Gonzales, the Shrub's nominee for Attorney General: "[Gonzales] lacks both competence and conscience." Via Oliver Willis comes Grimmelmann's excellent, in-depth critique of Gonzales, "Worse Than Ashcroft":

An Attorney General must be an excellent lawyer, capable of representing the United States with skill, of enforcing its laws effectively, and of rendering excellent legal advice to its government. Alberto Gonzales is an incompetent lawyer, who has shown himself a poor judge of his client's interest, a contempt for laws of the United States, and an inability to render accurate legal advice.

An Attorney General must also be an excellent human being, always seeking to punish criminals, to protect the innocent, to uphold the standards of justice, and to preserve those qualities that make a nation worthy of respect. Alberto Gonzales has sought to protect wrongdoers from the deserved legal consequencs of their actions, to leave those who may be innocent without legal recourse, to pervert justice, and to spit in the face of dignity, liberty, benevolence, moral authority, human rights, and the rule of law itself.

Alberto Gonzales has blood on his hands. All those who help to confirm him will share in it.

Bush couldn't even let a week pass since the election without attempting to drive another knife into the back of the United States.