The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee were every bit as ineffective in securing commitments from Alberto Gonzales. New York Sen. Chuck Schumer asked Gonzales whether he would agree to urge Bush to consult with Democrats about potential Supreme Court nominees. Gonzales' response? He said he'd relay the request.

Gonzales' exchange with Schumer was one of several in which the nominee was either unable to or uninterested in engaging with the questions before him. Schumer praised Gonzales for working with him on judicial appointments, saying that because of their cooperation, Bush had appointed federal judges for New York who were conservative but not outside the mainstream. When Schumer asked why the administration hadn't been able to work cooperatively on nominations with Democrats elsewhere in the country, Gonzales said he'd wondered about that, too, then left it at that.

And time and again, when senators suggested that there might be some linkage between Gonzales' legal work and the abuses at Abu Ghraib, Gonzales seemed unable to understand why anyone might think there could be a connection. When asked whether he agreed with the narrow definition of "torture" set forth in a legal opinion he requested from the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, Gonzales said that by asking for the opinion to be written, "I did my job as counsel to the president." Pressed further by Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, Gonzales said that he didn't recall whether he agreed with the narrow definition at the time the opinion was presented to him, and that "ultimately, it was the responsibility of the Department of Justice" to interpret the law.

Other times, Gonzales seemed to be unprepared for questions he should have known were coming. When asked about memos he wrote to help Bush, then governor of Texas, weigh clemency requests from death row inmates, Gonzales was vague about why he had left out information that could have given Bush reason to think that death sentences should be commuted or at least delayed. Asked about a now legendary case in which the condemned man's lawyer slept through much of his trial -- a fact Gonzales didn't see fit to mention in his clemency memo -- the nominee said he couldn't remember any of the details of the case. And when Sen. Lindsey Graham asked Gonzales whether he agreed with a military lawyer's suggestion that White House policy on torture and the Geneva Convention put U.S. troops at risk, the nominee was caught completely flat-footed. He asked if the clock hadn't run out on Graham's questioning. He asked Graham to repeat the question. And then, when he still had nothing to say, he accepted Graham's offer to take some time to think about it and provide a response later.

Gonzales offered a few assurances here and there. He said he understands that he'll have an obligation to justice, and not just to the president, when he's serving as attorney general. He said he disapproves of torture, and that he is committed to following the rule of law. But without details -- and Gonzales wasn't providing any -- Democrats know that those promises don't mean much. If you don't say how you'd define torture -- and Gonzales didn't -- then it's easy to say that you oppose it, just as it's easy to say you'll follow the rule of law so long as you don't say what you think the law is.

None of this sat well with the Democrats on the committee, but they know there's nothing they can do about it. It takes a simple majority to confirm a cabinet appointee. The Republicans can provide that on their own, and some Democrats -- including Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar, who introduced Gonzales at the meeting -- are likely to cross over and join them.

So even if there's a direct line between Gonzales' legal work and the abuses of Abu Ghraib -- abuses so awful that Sen. Orrin Hatch suggested that photographs of them not be shown while Gonzales' children were in the hearing room -- the Democrats are just going to have to take it. The process wasn't pretty. Some Democrats pushed Gonzales hard for answers. Leahy pursued him aggressively on a number of issues, including his vetting, such as it was, of Bernard Kerik. Kennedy came at him again and again on torture and the Geneva Convention. And Graham, a Republican, questioned Gonzales sharply even though he said he intended to vote to confirm him.

But even the most aggressive questioners were left looking a little pathetic. At one point Thursday afternoon, Ted Kennedy was reduced to begging Judiciary Committee chairman Arlen Specter for all of 15 minutes to question Gonzales about issues like immigration and civil rights.

And after assuring Gonzales that his confirmation was in the bag, Joe Biden found himself groveling before the nominee, calling him the "real deal" -- remember when they said that about John Kerry? -- even as he pleaded with him to tell the truth about something. "We're looking for candor, old buddy," Biden told Gonzales Thursday morning. "We're looking for you, when we ask you a question, to give us an answer, which you haven't done yet. I love you, but you're not being very candid so far."

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