Irksome twosome, to some

The tongue-teasing title is an intended pun, if only to prickle, nay, tickle the peevishness of some critics over the antics of GMA's "daring duo", or the "glib twins"

DOJ Secretary Raul Gonzales and NS Adviser Norberto Gonzales have gutsy derring-do in expressing their minds. Definitely, lockjaw isn't a physical handicap to both. And to media practitioners, the twosome is each good copy for scoops.

This paper's editor-in-chief did a cutting editorial on NSA Gonzales and a caustic lampoon in his "To The Quick" column on DOJ Gonzales, and dubbed each as "loose cannon". A lot of others are similarly riled by the Gonzaleses, nay, scorchingly hated by the political opposition especially the party-list leftists, among a legion of others.

Short of accusing the "glib twins" as advocates of McCarthyism for their calling the Batasan 5 and their NGO ilk as NPAs or communists, the Beltran-Casiño-Masa-Ocampo bloc just love to hate the daring duo.

For the DOJ chief to be a "blabbermouth", or a "loose cannon" as JST calls him, is okay, being a lawyer with "license" to shoot his mouth and, his legal opinions are incidental to his position and official turf. Never shy to engage in verbal fencing, like, his "confrontasi" with the Supreme Court before becoming a congressman, and as a leading prosecuting lawmaker in the Erap impeachment, followed by his co-chairing in the presidential election canvass jointly by Congress, speak for his outspoken streak.

Except for his waspish tattling even on petty matters, like twitting Dinky Soliman for treachery, or ribbing Tita Cory's repeated "request" for GMA to step down instead of reining in daughter Kris' then romantic antics, or slamming the then screaming FPJ widow, etc., Raul G has acquitted himself as knowledgeable in law.

As for Norberto G, with scant EQ and skimpy training on security matters, many wonder why he heads a sensitive office. He's also not averse to controversial situations.

Just to name a few. His most trying "calvary" was the Venable contract that he garrulously bandied about, as if he were the president. And his Senate appearance was a pitiful sight, only to be "saved" by his rising blood pressure. His shameful tragedy, including the issuance by GMA of EO 464 to spare him from further embarrassment, is now part of his doubtful ability. Then followed his revelation of alleged plot to assassinate GMA, implicating Senator Drilon and, dragging Tita Cory, which did not sit well in public perception.

Lately in Cebu, on the heels of an attempt to bomb SM that was discovered, leading to the killing of two suspects, NSA Gonzales "detonated" his own bomb. He announced that Cebu, with its booming economy and tourism favorite, plus the ASEAN summit site come December, is tempting target of terrorist attacks.

In fairness to the gung-ho duo, they're game to take punches thrown their way by critics and media, just as they are equally adept in dishing out their own. There's no halfway measure to characterize their positions in defense of the establishment. Palace spokesmen, like, Ermita, Defensor, Bunye, et al. are tamely conciliatory and laid back in tone and language, lacking the punch and spice, given the political imbroglio fomented by the coterie of critics from all sides.

On the other hand, the Gonzales twins whose loyalty to GMA is beyond question, don't cotton to niceties and pretended civility. They're street fighters, which make them both interesting specimens, willing to engage in verbal donny-brook, or free-for-all unlimited to enliven the media.

At least, even for the fun of it, the Gonzales twins level off the playing field vis-à-vis the unrelenting onslaught of the political opposition, the NGO radicals, and the biased sector of media.