Somewhere along that winding road between childhood and adultism we're supposed to learn that it's bad form to do a double-gaining jackknifed swandive onto the pigpile of someone elses sad misfortune. We're not supposed to get all gloaty and do the Snoopy Dance around the smouldering ruin of their charred and blackened career. We're not supposed to snicker as they slink off into the sunset.
Yeah, but sometimes when you're dealing with someone who's professional actions and public statments have been so mindnumbingly horrific you just have to say... "Fuck That Ms. Manners Shit"
Sinking Ship Leaves Rat by Michael Tomanski
We don't yet know whether Bush iced Gonzales, politically, or whether the disgraced attorney general realized on his own what the rest of Washington has known for months - that his credibility was completely shot and he couldn't continue in his job.
Indeed Gonzales' legacy is so resoundingly awful that one can't imagine which of his failures and transgressions his eventual obituary writers and future historians will highlight.
Oh, I can imagine, quite vividly...
But first let's let Tomansky have his turn in this episode of "A Lie Runs Through It!".
Lying to Congress, which is the clear implication made in testimony by his former aide Monica Goodling? Potential witness tampering, another charge Goodling made implicitly under oath? Helping Bush cover up his old drunk driving conviction?
Wait, there's more! Helping Bush, then governor of Texas, set a modern record for one governor in ordering 150 executions, reviewing in his capacity as Bush's counsel more than fifty clemency applications and never recommending clemency once? Later, declaring the Geneva Conventions "quaint"?
And of course, there's overseeing the firings of nine US attorneys because they would not participate in overtly political prosecutions.
Let me just add that Gonzales didn't just say that the Geneva Conventions were "Quaint" - he knew far better - like some mafioso Consigliare'. he specifically advised President Bush on how to knowingly commit War Crimes and get away with it. His advice, which was provided long before the dreaded Bybee Memo, set the stage for the standard of treatment that over 14,000 detainees would experience and precipitated the murder via abuse of nearly three dozen of those held in U.S. custody. There are few people, including Rumsfeld, who can be considered a greater accomplice before the fact to these War Crimes than Gonzo.
Of course Gonzo never killed anyone himself not even those on the Texan Death Row, but let me just point on by way of comparison that Charles Manson never killed anyone either - he simply told others when, who and how. Still, Charlie's bodycount pales in comparison to Fredo's. Chuck was a amatuer - Fredo's a Pro.
To me it's a toss-up whether Gonzo will be better remembered and vilified for the above or for overseaing the illegal warrantless spying of tens of millions of Americans and STILL. NOT. GETTING. BIN. LADEN!?
Hmm... decisions, decisions...is that the stench of burning paper, plastic or brimstone?
It seems now that even Gonzo's close Friends on The Fox apparently thought he was a punk-ass too. Whodathunkit?
Gonzales was a man almost without fans in Washington at the end, because he was never much appreciated or accepted by the conservative base of the Republican party and the conservative activists in Washington. And he certainly wasn’t popular among the Democrats. He was simply a crony. And I don’t mean that word to sound any worse than it is, but that was the case here.
And just where in this outpouring of simpathy and support for the out-going Attorney General do the 101st Fighting Keyboardists stand? Quite possibly on Gonzo's Neck.
Raw Story does a review of the conservative blogosphere’s reaction to the Gonzales resignation and finds "there is precious little love lost for the departing AG." RedState writes, "I am not sorry to see AGAG go." Andy McCarthy at the National Review writes the "resignation was overdue," and Captain’s Quarters adds that Gonzales’ attorney scandal "has been a royal embarrassment."
An "embarrisment"? No! You don't say?
And here I thought he was just a royal pain in the nation's ass.
That isn't to say that Fredo doesn't still have a fan club (of one).
President Bush: "It's sad that we live in a time that a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeding [sic] from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political purpose."
Ari Fliescher : Republicans were very hard on Janet Reno. Democrats were brutal to John Ashcroft and now Judge Gonzales. What’s happening is Congress is really politicizing the Justice Department, unfairly so and dangerously so, because there are so many important law important functions that go on there. It’s regrettable, both parties have done it.
Sniff
It's just all so unfair. I'm sorry Ari's right - the application of Justice and the laws of the land should be above politics.
I mean, "it's so sad", as John Cornyn has told us, that poor Fredo had to suffer the mean spirited slings and arrows of those Damn Dirty Democr... uh Republicans?
Sen. John Sununu (R-NH): "The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership."
Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): "The American people deserve an Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer of our country, whose honesty and capability are beyond question. Attorney General Gonzales can no longer meet this standard. He has failed this country. He has lost the moral authority to lead."
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ): "I think that out of loyalty to the president that that [resignation] would probably be the best thing that he could do."
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR)- "For the Justice Department to be effective before the U.S. Senate, it would be helpful."
Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN): "I don’t believe that Gonzales has the type of leadership that the department needs."
Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO): "The president might decide that the current leadership remaining at DOJ is doing more harm than good."
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)- ""When you have to spend more time up here on Capitol Hill instead of running the Justice Department, maybe you ought to think about it."
Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)- "There are some problems that he just hasn't handled well, and it might just be best if he came to a conclusion that the department is better served if he's not there.'"
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)- "Sometimes, it just came down to these were not the right people at the right time. If I applied that standard to you, what would you say?"
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA)- "For you to have said this was an ‘overblown personnel matter,’ I think that can't be erased. And the clouds over a lot of the professionals can't be erased and the worry by those who haven’t been subjected to those clouds can't be erased.
Ok, fine - forget what I said about "Unfairness" and "Sadness" and "political purposes" - Fuck the little bastard, because he certainly did all he could to Butt-Fuck America.
Then again, leaving now just might be the best thing for ole' Fredo - since it appears that the Bush Administration Ship of State has been permenently grounded on the rocky shoals of Congress - why not get out while the gettings good and the Congress Critters are all out of town?
At least we didn't have to waste time and energy Impeaching His Ass, now we can focus on preparing to Impeach Cheney!
Vyan
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