On the front page of this morning's New York Times Eric Lichtblau's Gonzales Speaks Against Torture During Hearing documents yesterday's attempt by Alberto Gonzales to perform the old Dusty Springfield song "Brand New Me" to the Senate.
This is my same old coat
And my same old shoes
I was the same old me
With the same old blues
"I don't recall today whether or not I was in agreement with all of the analysis," Mr. Gonzales said. While the administration has since disavowed the memorandum's narrow definition of what constitutes torture, Mr. Gonzales said that at the time he did not "have a disagreement with the conclusions then reached by the department" and that he did not want to politicize the process by dictating what the Justice Department's conclusions should be. "Ultimately it is the responsibility of the department to tell us what the law means," he said.
Then you touched my life
Just by holding my hand
Now I look in the mirror
And see a brand new girl
"Do I regret the abuses at Abu Ghraib?" he asked. "Absolutely. I condemn them. Do I believe that they may have hurt us in winning the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world? Yes, and I do regret that."
I got the same old friends
They got the same old sins
I tell the same old jokes
"This administration does not engage in torture and will not condone torture," Mr. Gonzales said during a daylong hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering his nomination to succeed John Ashcroft as attorney general.
Give the same old grins
But now the jokes sound new
And the laughter does too
He said that he was "deeply committed to ensuring that the United States government complies with all of its legal obligations as it fights the war on terror, whether those obligations arise from domestic or international law."
I go to the same old places
See the same old faces
Mr. Gonzales also promised to personally look into recent reports from the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the possible mistreatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, and he disclosed that the administration had had preliminary discussions about seeking to amend prisoner protections in the Geneva Conventions.
I was the same old me
With the same old blues
Mr. Gonzales, who is the White House counsel, said he understood that, if confirmed, "I will no longer represent only the White House, I will represent the United States of America and its people."
"I understand the differences between the two roles," he added.
Sorry to rain on his American Idol chances, but Gonzales still doesn't understand. He was never working for the Bully Boy, he was supposed to be working for the people. His role was to maintain the rule of law and to advise the office of the president (regardless of who the president was) in such a manner that the laws of the land were maintained. Gonzales obviously failed at that task.
["Brand New Me" written by Theresa Bell, Jerry Butler, Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff]
[Note: This post has been corrected. The title is now listed as "Brand New Me" throughout. The first names of three writers has been added to the song credit as well as a fourth writer of the song and was left out. Recommended albums for this song: Marcia recommends Dusty Springfield's The Very Best of Dusty Springfield; I think in addition to Springfield's well known version, Aretha Franklin also has a strong version of it on the album Young, Gifted & Black. On Franklin's album the song is listed as "A Brand New Me" and with three songwriters credited. The Songwriter's Hall of Fame lists four writers and calls it "Brand New Me" so we'll let The Songwriter's Hall of Fame have the last word on this unless someone can track down another source.]
