Gonzales hearing under way

The Gonzales hearing is under way and can be streamed at C-SPAN 3. At least in Portland, the NPR affiliate, KOPB radio, is airing the audio.

As always, Talking Points Memo is all over it, and TPM also notes a McClatchy story concerning the GOP attempt to prove "voter fraud."

Since President Bush's first attorney general, John Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri, launched a "Ballot Access and Voter Integrity Initiative" in 2001, Justice Department political appointees have exhorted U.S. attorneys to prosecute voter fraud cases, and the department's Civil Rights Division has sought to roll back policies to protect minority voting rights.


On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division's Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans, notably in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Washington and other states where recent elections have been decided by narrow margins.

I was just listening to the audio feed on NPR, and Gonzales was facing brisk questioning from Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. Careful observers will recall that there are a lot of questions concerning a "voter fraud" conviction that was overturned and the conduct of the US attorney there, Steven M. Biskupic.