Alberto Gonzales Propaganda from WaPo

WaPo bats for Bush in this sycophantic 'life story' piece: "Migrant Workers' Son Worked Way to Air Force Academy, Harvard, a Top Law Firm -- and Government"

Okay, part of me understands that all nominees get to have their 'life story' piece. And that it will either be about how they rose from humble beginnings to devote their lives to public service, or how they were born into privilege and taught that they had an obligation to public service.

But the other part of me thinks that life story bits do a disservice to the newspaper readership by 'reporting' on irrelevant yet attractive aspects of the nominee's life story to soften their reportage of truly relevant facts.

So you have some relevant facts buried in 3 pages of fluff about Mr. Gonzales's first job serving beverages to football fans, his migrant worker parents, and President Bush saying:"In many ways, Al embodies the American dream."

The important facts? The ones that are relevant to the question at hand: should Mr. Gonzales become AG? The WaPo delicately says that Gonzales is "likely to face tough questions regarding his role as White House counsel, particularly his memos that, critics believe, sanctioned the torture of terrorism suspects in Iraq and encouraged the detention of others at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts."

So: "critics believe" that Gonzales may have "sanctioned" torture, and Gonzales may face some "tough questions" about this.

Tell me, dear WaPo, is it truly possible to believe otherwise about those torture memos? Given what is now coming out about the use of torture being the rule rather than the exception? "Critics believe"!?!

We are about to be stuck with an AG who thinks torture is A-OK, and is smart enough to interpret the laws so that it's somehow legal too. And the Post prattles on about how Gonzales overcame racial barriers and attended college prep classes in high school.

So, once more with feeling, could we focus on the torture please?