Letter: Nothing inspiring about Bush’s puppets

Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007 | 1:22 a.m.

I read with interest Paul Campos' Sept. 2 column, "No good days for Gonzales." Mr. Campos writes that while abject loyalty is a fine thing in a dog, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' unlimited devotion should not have resulted in ignoring international treaties prohibiting torture, spying on Americans in violation of federal law, or firing U.S. attorneys for the sleaziest of partisan political motives.

In the photograph accompanying the column I was struck by the striking resemblance between Gonzales and Edgar Bergen's Charlie McCarthy. I think this is fitting because Gonzales, like so many Bush appointees, acted as a puppets (i.e., dummy ) of the Bush administration in attempting to make this a nation of men and not of laws.

In Martin Luther King Jr.'s "The Drum Major Instinct" speech, he reflects on how he wished to be remembered and stated that he wanted to be remembered as a "drum major of righteousness" and a "drum major of justice." Dr. King, unlike Bush and his band of puppets, was a fierce warrior and champion for justice and righteousness.

How will Gonzales and the mockery made by the Bush administration of the rule of law be remembered? Like Dr. King's musical metaphor for justice and as Don McLean sang in "American Pie," it will be remembered as the "day the music died."

Tom Harper, Henderson