So the big news this morning is that the Attorney General appears to be done. Remember that it was only a few weeks ago that the new Chief of Staff Josh Bolten told members of Bush’s staff that if they did not intend to stay through the end of his term they needed to leave by Labor Day. Guess this is a sign he never intended to stay:
After Rove’s resignation senior administration officials said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten had told senior aides that if they intended to stay after Labor Day, plan to remain for the rest of Bush’s term through January 2009.
And here is the Times being triumphant:
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned.
~~~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.
Accusations of perjury which the NYT’s made regularly, and falsely I might add. Now granted, he did not do so well defending the Administration when the firing news came out by explaining the firings with an excuse that didn’t hold up. That being their performance. All he had to say was that it was the President’s privilege and that they needed no excuse. But the Democrats had a plan and they would have made a circus out of it either way. Would any other past AG have done better? Think Reno would of?
Of course Reno never had to go through this when EVERY federal prosecutor was fired by Clinton because the Republicans understood that this was the Presidents privilege.
Be that it may it appears many think its Chertoff job to lose.
If the Administration could avoid a protracted confirmation bloodletting — a very big if — I think that replacing Alberto Gonzales with Michael Chertoff would be a very positive step.
Recess appointment?
Why Chertoff? Officials say he’s got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.
Interesting. Didn’t Chertoff piss off a few conservatives with his stance on immigration?
That may be the plan to try to get him through the confirmation, put up an experienced fellow with a history of agreeing with Dem’s on some issues. Somehow, I still see the confirmation becoming a circus run by the Democrats:
ROBERTS: Safe to say any confirmation hearing will be an opportunity for democrats to air years worth of grievances about a number of different issues revolving around the department of justice?
SEN. SCHUMER: Let me say this – and I’m speaking for myself – I’d rather look forward than look back. I’d rather look at somebody who can straighten out some of the problems in the future rather than finger point in the past. When I called for the Attorney General to step down – I think I was the first one – it was because I was so upset at how the Justice Department was being run with the u.S. Attorney’s investigation, with what has happened with wiretaps and so many other different kinds of issues. And so I think our number one goal is not to look back and finger-point. It’s to, rather, look forward and find an Attorney General who can get the Justice Department working in the way it’s always worked, under democratic and republican administrations alike, which is rule of law first.
Yeah, we are still waiting with bated breath for you Democrats to stop looking back on all the other issues. But on this one you really will? Give me a break Chuckie.
So will it be Chertoff? Many think so but I’m seeing rumblings it may be the Solicitor General Paul Clement. We shall see.
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