Rules of Disentanglement

"The call is significant because Gonzales, a fellow Hispanic, has enjoyed Richardson's support to this point. But Richardson said the questions that have been raised about the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, and the role that Gonzales played in those firings, have effectively ended his ability to run the agency." - AP Story, 4/20/07

Those of you who wander over to the ABQTrib from time to time might have come across a little column I wrote about the need for real "race relations" and dialogue in this country, especially New Mexico. It focused on Don Imus & Manny Aragon, but today's news of Bill Richardson FINALLY deciding that Alberto Gonzalez needs to go is another illustration of the importance of race/ethnicity, and at the same time the underreporting of that importance. Namely:

1. If anything, besides cockfighting, is a no-brainer it's a Democrat calling for Alberto Gonzalez to step down. Hell, half the Republicans are doing it now, and most Democrats have argued against the guy since, roughly, two hours after he took the Attorney General position in February '05.
2. In a News Googling/look around the Net search, I see that 20 hours after this AP story comes out there are very few sites posting the news. Yes, maybe it's just the weekend, and any news outside of the Virginia Tech shooting is pretty much off-limits, but our leading "second-tier" Democratic candidate for '08 should be getting more publicity with this story.
3. Earlier this week, the ABQJournal had one of those little blog blurbs (you know, the mini-posts at the top of the ABQJournal web site...the ones that are pretty much the best thing about going to ABQJournal?) from its top political reporter mentioning that Richardson was reluctant to demand Gonzalez' firing/resignation because of the Hispanic link. I never did see a full-blown story about that in the "real" print Journal.
4. This is the same ABQJournal that has covered just about every pore, skin cell and hair follicle of Bill Richardson for some time now. By the way, I don't see a mention either in the ABQTrib this morning, but there's that weekend/Trib thing at play there, perhaps.

So you're thinking..."okay, Scot, what's the big deal here? So Richardson has been more forgiving about what a, for lack of a better word, utter complete tool Alberto Gonzalez has and continues to be?" Well, maybe it's just me, but if Bill Richardson is going to be President, he's not going to be able to make hiring and firing decisions based on whether someone is of a particular race/ethnicity. Or at least he shouldn't.

At the same time, it's very hard to ignore a Campaign '08 press corps known for violently swooping in like birds in some Alfred Hitchcock movie generally avoid race/ethnicity politics in this country. Think back to the "unauthorized" Obama YouTube "1984" video of Hillary, or the recent "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran" for examples. Compare those with this Richardson/Gonzalez thing.

No, I'm not saying there should be a similar amount of coverage to that of the feeding frenzy of "Hillary 1984". I'm just saying there should be SOME coverage and analysis of what Richardson/Gonzalez all means.

Lest it be thought that I'm some secret Republican or KKK member or something, let it be known that while I have problems with Bill Richardson, I would vote for him over any Republican candidate dead or alive or lame duck in a heartbeat. I also admit that I think one reason a Richardson Presidency would be cool is because he would be our first Hispanic President. I'm only asking that our public organs of discourse (media, etc.) openly talk/discuss things like voters liking Richardson because it would be cool to have our first Hispanic President.

Or Richardson's relatively extreme reluctance to call for Alberto Gonzalez's firing/resignation.