What took him so long?
So long, Alberto.
joe(don't let the door hit you in the ass)Nation
Advocate wrote:The NY Time reports that Alberto Gonzales phoned in his resignation to President Bush on friday.
Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not immediately announced, the official added, until after the president invited him and his wife to lunch at his ranch near here.
Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Attorney General's resignation had not yet been made public.
....
Mr. Gonzales's resignation is the latest in a series of high-level departures that has reshaped the end of Mr. Bush's second term. Karl Rove, another of Mr. Bush's close circle of aides from Texas, stepped down two weeks ago.
The official said that the decision was Mr. Gonzales's and that the president accepted it grudgingly. At the same time, the official acknowledged that the turmoil over his tenure as Attorney General had made continuing difficult.
"The unfair treatment that he's been on the receiving end of has been a distraction for the department," the official said.
There have been reports that Michael Chertoff, Head of Homeland Security, will replace Gonzales.
This may be a strategy of the Whitehouse to take pressure off, in terms of congressional investigations. It is also a day when we can expect the whitehouse to sneak in some other news under the cover of this major event.
I hope that Chertoff is not the successor. While he is an intelligent lawyer, he is not an administrator. Justice is, of course, huge, and needs an administrator more than a good lawyer.
Anybody the Bush administration recommends for anything of importance will be someone of their ilk with loyalty to the administration. It really don't matter anymore unless it is another judge at this point because soon enough they'll all be out anyway.
I bet Bush's parting words were "Bertie, you've done a heckuva job!"
Two things must now be done:
the investigation into the damage that the now former attorney general has done to the Justice Department must be completed
and a non-jaundiced look has to be taken at the professional behavior of any of those District Attorneys who were loyal enough to the Party not to fired.
Joe(Where do their true loyalties lie?)Nation
Amusingly, Bush is saying that Alberto was run out of office by the Dems for political reasons. I guess he didn't see Alberto's memory failures when he was before congress, or read his memo on torture, or see his undermining of the Justice Department, etc. Even Reps have come down hard on Alberto.
Well, I read someplace that Alberto was a "dead man walking" only satisfying his own ego while destroying those all around him. People like that are not only self-absorbed but dangerous! They don't give a shite about anybody but themselves.
As the saying goes, better late than never.
The last half of an article appearing on yahoo.com.
In a legal memo in 2002, he contended that Bush had the right to waive anti-torture laws and international treaties that protected prisoners of war. The memo said some of the prisoner-of-war protections contained in the Geneva Conventions were "quaint" and that in any event, the treaty did not apply to enemy combatants in the war on terror.
Human rights groups later contended his memo led directly to the abuses exposed in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq.
Of greater political concern was the Democratic majority that took office in Congress earlier this year. Leahy soon began investigating the firing of federal prosecutors.
Testifying on April 19 before the Judiciary Committee, Gonzales answered "I don't know" and "I can't recall" scores of times when asked about events surrounding the firings.
His support among Republicans in Congress, already weak, eroded markedly, then suffered further with word of the bedside meeting in the intensive care unit of George Washington University Hospital three years earlier.Comey described the events as "an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general."
Gonzales subsequently denied that the dispute was about the terrorist surveillance program, but his credibility was undercut when FBI Director Robert S. Mueller contradicted him.
Several Democrats called for a perjury investigation, but no further action has been taken.
I hope they find loads of unlawful acts on the part of gonzales, and have him transferred to Gitmo after his conviction for crimes against humanity. .
My favorite part of this, although I do hate to see people screw up so badly, is that George Bush seems to be taking this whole thing as a personal affront. Guess what? For once he is right as rain. This has been a rejection of another incompetant yes-man who only had George's interests in mind and not those of the American people.
This is a pattern for George.
Joe(Harriet Miers for new Attorney General??!)Nation
Bush says it's always "political." But history tells us that he commends all of them before they get booted. "My friend" is a favorite one.
Bush can't seem to accept that everything about his office and administration is "political."
Gonzales to Spend More Time Eavesdropping on His Family
The Borowitz Report 'Domestic Surveillance Begins at Home,' Former A.G. Says
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned today, effective immediately, telling reporters that he wanted to spend more time eavesdropping on his family.
Mr. Gonzales, a champion of domestic surveillance and warrantless wiretaps while in office, said he was "totally stoked" about turning his prying eyes on his own family.
"Domestic surveillance begins at home," Mr. Gonzales said at a White House press conference. "That means nobody in my family is above suspicion, not even the little ones," an apparent reference to Mr. Gonzales' children.
Standing by Mr. Gonzales' side, President George W. Bush praised his former Attorney General, singling out his "courage" for ramping up his domestic spying program on his own family.
"If every head of every household was as willing to eavesdrop on his own family as my man Alberto is, we wouldn't need a Homeland Security Department," Mr. Bush chuckled.
Mr. Gonzales was noncommittal when a reporter asked him a question about the role that waterboarding and other forms of torture might play in his interrogation of family members.
"Nothing is off the table," he said.
Asked about his tenure as Attorney General, Mr. Gonzales was candid about his stormy time in office: "Frankly, I can't believe it took this long for them to shitcan me."
Talk about a gestapo police state, it can't get any worse. The problem is they don't understand they are destroying this country - not protecting it.
cicerone imposter wrote:Bush says it's always "political." But history tells us that he commends all of them before they get booted. "My friend" is a favorite one.
Bush can't seem to accept that everything about his office and administration is "political."
So then it had nothing to do with the way Gonzales did his job?
Who will be the next political witchhunt victim?
Could it be Condi Rice?
After all,she has the nerve to be a successful black woman in a repub administration.
We all know the dems dont like that.
so far Condi hasnt dione anything that is unethical.
I am keeping an eye on Condi. I think that she is guilty by association (remember McCarthyism). After all, she hob nobs with the likes of Bush, Cheney, Hastert, Blunt, et al.
Quote:
White House pranksters wrapped Rove's Jaguar in plastic wrap on the private driveway next to the West Wing. Rove's car is easily recognizable because of its "I love Barack Obama" bumper sticker and the twin stuffed-animal eagles on the trunk. Oh, and there's a stuffed-animal elephant on the hood.
Rove, the top White House political strategist who recently announced his resignation, left his car on the driveway while visiting Texas and traveling with President Bush. He was due back in Washington Wednesday evening.
source
What I am wondering is how pranksters got close enough to Rove's car to do all of that?
I guess the security guards don't have to look after his car, but that in of itself is a contradiction of this administration. They've wasted billions in Iraq on "security," and a few more million for Rove's car is peanuts by comparison.
cicerone imposter wrote:I guess the security guards don't have to look after his car, but that in of itself is a contradiction of this administration. They've wasted billions in Iraq on "security," and a few more million for Rove's car is peanuts by comparison.
Since his car was parked on the WH grounds,then the Secret Service uniformed officers were watching it.
That doesnt mean that some people from his office cant have a little fun.
Stop whining and get on with your life.
You all must remember that Karl (Cowpie Lilly or whatever stupid nickname the President had for him) is reputedly a fun and funny guy. All the time he has been plotting the dissection of the Constitution and evisceration of the welfare state, he has been one prolific yuk-yuk-yuk provider of humor and pranks.
That is how, while he has been ruining the republic, he's kept his brilliant smile.
Joe(god, what big teeth you have Grandma)Nation
Per press reports yesterday and today, the JD itself is investigating Gonzales on a number of matters including possibly lying to Congress and politicization of the department. God knows whether this investigation will be with or without integrity, but it does offer up a reasonable explanation of the timing of his resignation. One hopes that the non-partisan career folks within the department - those who actually do give a damn - will set to this task with courage and care.
