Bwhahaha! ABA drops Gonzales’s ‘Lawyer of the Year’ title

[babylonsister]

:rofl:

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/12/14/aba-drops-gonzaless-lawyer-of-the-year-title/

ABA drops Gonzales’s ‘Lawyer of the Year’ title.

Recently, the American Bar Association named former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as “Lawyer of the Year” for being the major newsmaker of 2007. Today, the ABA issued a clarification, giving Gonzales a new title: “Newsmaker of the Year“:

The article defined that term as the year’s biggest legal newsmaker, identifying former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales as the major newsmaker of 2007. The Journal regrets that we did not make this theme clear.

We appreciate the feedback we’ve received, and we’re acting on it. So that there can be no confusion, the term “Lawyers of the Year” has been changed in the headline and story to “Newsmakers of the Year.” The story is otherwise unchanged from its original version.

[spanone]

1. yes, but the fact they even had the notion is appalling.

[babylonsister]

2. They didn't name him for his sterling qualities but for the exact opposite,

I'm thinking.

[0007]

5. I'm thinking there should be a full blown investigation on why the ABA

is so fucked up! Mainly the corporate attorneys that front for the Wall Street criminals.

[Ravy]

3. They specifically mentioned Time Magazine's choice of

Hitler as "Man-of-the-Year", which indicates to me that their heart was in the right place.

[Bjorn Against]

7. Well he was probably the biggest newsmaker among all the lawyers in this country

The American Bar Association did make it clear at the time of his nomination that they were not naming him Lawyer of the Year because they thought he was the best lawyer, they were doing it because the "award" is not for the best lawyer it is for the lawyer that had the biggest impact on the national dialogue. And in that case Gonzalez was clearly an appropriate choice, we certainly talked about him a lot around here. The article I saw when his name was first announced actually had someone from the ABA compare his nomination to Hitler and Stalin getting Time magazine's person of the year award years ago. It is not necessarily an honor.

With this change in title though it is clear that they are sending an even clearer message that this is not supposed to be an honor for him.

[Faygo Kid]

4. Too late. What a firestorm.

"Newsmaker" should have been thought of before - it's too late now. I was especially impressed by this part of the statement that was issued:

"This article, like all in the Journal, is the work of the magazine’s editorial staff. As is the magazine’s practice, it was not reviewed by the Journal’s volunteer Board of Editors, the ABA’s Board of Governors, or its officers, prior to publication."

http://www.abanet.org/abanet/media/statement/statement.cfm?releaseid=231

I'm thinkin' that the members of the Board of Governors and volunteer editors maybe, just maybe, expressed a bit of disapproval about this - and the policy cited here might change.

What a moronic thing to do. Yes, Hitler was Time's Man of the Year, but he sure wasn't named Diplomat of the Year. All the Journal had to do was name the fired U.S. attorneys as their Lawyers of the Year, and they would have received great praise while still getting their point across. Scary stooopid.

[Bjorn Against]

8. If you would have read what they said upon issuing the award you will see it was not a bad choice

In the Nation

Gonzales named 'lawyer of year'
WASHINGTON - Negative news coverage may have cost former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales his job, but it won him a dubious honor yesterday from a monthly magazine published by the American Bar Association: lawyer of the year.

The ABA Journal also named his successor, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, as its top lawyer for 2008 - mostly in anticipation of how often he likely will be in the media spotlight for trying to repair the Justice Department.

The magazine gave the awards to lawyers who made the most news, said its editor and publisher, Edward A. Adams. "Think about Time magazine's Person of the Year," Adams said. "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."- AP

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/20071213_In_the_Nation.html

Even the ABA compared him to Hitler and Stalin, it was very clear they were not trying to bestow an honor on him. They used to always call this award "Lawyer of the Year" and it is just now that they changed it to "Newsmaker of the Year". This is a huge embarrassment for Gonzalez, I am not complaining one bit about the ABA's choice.

[UTUSN]

6. K&R #3 for, Gonzo has a bottomless capacity for embarrassment!1 n/t