Gonzales Named Lawyer of the Year? What's Next, Bush Wins Nobel Prize!?

Posted by GottaLaff , Cliff Schecter's Blog at 7:25 AM on December 13, 2007.

Yes, yes, I understand the concept here. But still, putting the words "Gonzales" and "Lawyer of the Year" together makes me throw up a little in my mouth:

Negative news coverage may have cost former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales his job, but it won him a dubious honor Wednesday from a magazine published by the American Bar Association: Lawyer of the Year.

I wonder if he'll recall getting it.

The monthly magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said editor and publisher Edward A. Adams.

"Think about Time magazine's Person of the Year," Adams said in an interview. "In years past they've named people like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin. So we're not suggesting by these awards that these are the best lawyers in any sense of the word. We are saying they are the most newsworthy -- and perhaps also the best."

Comparing our former Attorney General to Hitler and Stalin is so reassuring. How proud we should be! On the upside, Gonzo probably won't recognize those names and will continue his restful stay in Hotel Oblivion.

Other high-profile lawyers that were nominated for the distinction included Goodling, the Justice Department's liaison to the White House who quit in April amid the political firestorm; I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the investigation into the leaked identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson; and U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the top prosecutor in Chicago who won the case against Libby.

It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game. Or is it, how you game the system?

I wonder who Time's Person of the Year will be, Michael Vick?

Tagged as: gonzales, justice department, bush administration

GottaLaff is a regular blogger for Cliff Schecter's Blog