TAKE OFF YOUR COAT AND STAY AWHILE. Way out here in the other Washington, it's not that often that we get to enjoy political activity of national merit. So when Alberto Gonzales rolls into town for the first time during his tenure as Attorney General, you'd expect something exciting to come of it. Except it didn't this morning, not in the least. In a thoroughly unexciting 15-minute speech, Gonzales discussed the DOJ's prosecution of cyber crimes and intellectual property theft, which I'm sure is the issue Americans are most concerned with at this point in history. The most interesting components of the brief speech were his attempts to draw a link between software pirates and international terrorism and his profound observations on child pornography on the web: "When I look at the explosion of child pornography on the Internet, it's amazing. You have to wonder what kind of people are interested in this kind of behavior." John McKay, our local fired U.S. Attorney, was not present for the event, and declined comment on the matter prior to the AG's visit. Nor was there any discussion of the antitrust complaint against local tech giant Microsoft that Google aired in federal court yesterday -- a complaint that the judge ruled should be filed with the Justice Department. Also conspicuously not present? Members of the actual public (though the event was promoted as "free and open" for all, with an RSVP). The room itself was only set up to seat 80 people, including the press, which accounted for a nice chunk of that number, and even those few seats were not all occupied. Most of the people there were members of TechNet, the host of the engagement, and local Republican politicians. There was also a dismal number of protesters outside the hotel, which was surprising given that we are in Seattle, and you all know how we roll out here. There were more police than protesters, which is likely due to the fact that the event was barely publicized in local media. Gonzales's scheduled speaking engagement in Boise, Idaho, yesterday was relocated after the presence of about 100 protesters at the original location prompted organizers to move the event to the U.S. Attorney's office and make it press-only. "The concern was, because of the other people that were there, they would become a distraction," Gonzales told reporters. All of this just leaves me wondering how much of the public Gonzales, or for that matter, any of the Bush administration, ever sees or hears. If Gonzales' impression of Seattle is taken solely from this morning's appearance, it will be more than a bit skewed. And if this is what the administration sees of all of the rest of America, it's easy to see why they're so out of touch.
--Kate Sheppard