Guest-blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review
U.S. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales has resigned.
Word of the resignation, which was submitted to George W. Bush last Friday has been leaked to the press, apparently by officials at Bush’s vacation home in Texas:
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.
In a series of congressional hearings earlier this year, Gonzales appeared to have perjured himself on multiple occasions. His dissembling and supposedly poor memory about his own actions related to the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and on other matters outraged members of Congress in both parties, some of whom were reportedly considering a move to impeach him this fall.
During a press conference earlier this month, Bush dismissed the idea of firing Gonzales, charging that Congress had found no wrong-doing. “Why would I hold someone accountable whose done nothing wrong?” Bush asked in response to a reporter’s question.
Speaking of impeachment, early speculation suggests Bush might nominate DHS Sec. Michael Chertoff, a former judge, as Gonzales’s replacement. Chertoff first achieved national notoriety by appearing on cable shows as a virulent anti-Clinton, pro-impeachment talking head in the 1990s. His chief qualification to be attorney general is his status as one of a very few loyal Bush cronies who has won Senate approval in the recent past and therefore could win approval now.
Another name in the mix earlier this year was that of former Bush solicitor general Ted Olson. Olson has even closer ties to the right-wing conspiracies a decade ago. A longtime friend of Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr, Olson served as the de facto chief operating officer of the Arkansas Project, a smear campaign against the Clintons that was funded by Pittsburgh millionaire Richard Melon Scaiffe and was operated out of the offices of the American Spectator magazine. Olson also successfully argued Bush v. Gore at the Supreme Court, for which he was rewarded with the post of solicitor general.
UPDATE: Joe Scarborough, former Republican Congressman turned MSNBC commentator, said of Gonzales moments ago on the cable news channel that Gonzales “has done a terrible job. His position was based on loyalty, not on competence.”
“The question is,” Scarborough said, “will this president have the courage to appoint someone [to replace him] based on integrity and competence, rather than loyalty.”
It ain’t over until the fat lady in the cell next to his sings.
Chertoff will continue the tradition of The Department of
JusticeJust Us, so he should not be approved by the Senate.Hmmm… Is impeachment really “off the table” . . .
JOJ #2
His impeachment is. Which means he can be pardoned.
Only those who have been impeached by the House and thereafter convicted by the Senate in a 2/3 vote, cannot be pardoned by the prezident.
PS: Ted Olson should not be confirmed by the Senate either … time for a real US Attorney General.
I nominate James Comey or David Iglesias for Atty General — two Repubs whom everyone could agree upon, who could be confirmed by both Republicans and Democrats. Except that would mean that pigs were flying and that would be just too freaky.
If Gonzales was the firewall for this administration, putting up Chertoff is equivalent of retreating to the blast doors.
I totally agree with your comment about chertoff Des! What I don’t understand is how he can even be working in our government since his mother was an Isreali and according to their rules their children no matter where they are born are considered Isreali citizens. So whether they tell your or not he is a Isreali citizen and American——DUAL CITIZENSHIP! I thought anyone with dual citizenship could not hold governmental office in our country? Anybody got more info on this?
And thanks Brad for mentioning my favorite republican (millions of dollars) think tank contributor.
As for gonzo, anywhere that vermin lands should be suspect!
Oops that’s Israeli.
Ancient, I think that dual citizenship can be ‘given up’ by the holder — there’s a word for it that I don’t remember off the top of my head, but it doesn’t mean that one is forced to hold dual citizenship if one doesn’t want to. It’s my understanding (from someone who once held dual citizenship, born in a foreign country of American parents) that a dual citizenship holder must give it up in order to vote in our elections.
Just for yux . . .
Double oops, thanks Jon not Brad!
Thanks Des. Given up on paper doesn’t mean given up in intent in my skeptical opinion.
Democrats should make confirmation of Gonzo’s replacement conditional on several promises under oath, including but not limited to:
1) Restore all 9 U.S. attorneys fired by Gonzo (& presumably, Rove). Get rid of the political hacks who replaced them without Senate confirmation.
2) Vow to end all fraudulent investigations of “voter fraud.” End voter suppression tactics such as caging. Remove all electronic voting machines without a paper trail and open source code.
3) Vow to cooperate with Congressional subpoenas and investigations, including those regarding FISA violations, documents held by Vice President Cheney, torture and extraordinary rendition.
4) Vow to uphold habeas corpus and the rule of law.
5) Declare NSPD 51 null and void. This presidential directive declares the president as the sole guarantor of continuity of the Constitution in the event of a crisis of the President’s choosing. The President abolishes the separation of powers, declaring himself supreme over all other branches.
OFF TOPIC – SCAM WARNING
I received the following email today claiming to be from Bradblog. Needless to say I didn’t open the attachment!
To: blubear2
Subject: A new game
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=WK0CK78iD225Zd45655bv74Imj44t
Message-Id:
Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:12:05 +0000
Content-Length: 132341
This is a new game
This game is my first work.
You’re the first player.
I expect you would enjoy it.
BB2
Anyone smell recess appointment timing? They need to get rid of that BS fast!
Ancient, I was wondering about Bush’s habit of recess appointments to avoid Senate confirmation hearings, too…
But remember that Harry Reid extracted a promise from Bush that he wouldn’t do that during this recess.
So I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that the timing of AGAG’s resignation had been planned all along for this long holiday week/weekend, with a recess appointment for Chertoff in the works, but Reid got wind of it and threatened to stay in session.
Not that the Bushies are particularly well-known for keeping their promises, but Reid’s requirement for recess was made very public in advance, so maybe this time the Bushies will stick to it.
It’s only been a few hours, tho, so that could change!
I also wouldn’t be surprised if both Rove and Gonzales already have pardons in their pockets. (insert joke of choice here)
Re: recess appoinment in the works? Josh Marshall says he’s hearing rumors:
“Judged by the standards of our history, a recess appointment to replace Alberto Gonzales sounds like an incredible proposition. But don’t be so sure. Just as we saw with the ‘pardon scooter’ movement, the word seems already to have gone out to the folks on the right to start preparing the ground for just such a move by the president. I’ve already heard a few just this morning saying it would be the right thing for the president to do. Watch for it.”
Another victory for We the People. Cheers.
It’s unfortunate that, after these folks resign, they are effectively removed from the public radar, and therefore no longer politically beneficial to hunt and punish. It would be nice to think that we could follow the Rule of Law here in the States, and prosecute & convict those who break it.
Des, I guess idiotboy would figure “what’s one more lie gonna do since they haven’t held me accountable for ALL the others.” Do you think he really believes since the MSM won’t broach the breaking point of public outrage he’s already crossed he can go ahead with “same shit different day” without consequence like more congress signing on to cheney impeachment?
Forget the recess talk, Ancient & DES. Gonzo said his resignation takes effect on September 17. There can be no recess appointment without a vacancy. Congress will be in session before September 17.
I think that no (zero) consideration should be given to anyone who has ever served in the duhbaya “administration” – in fact, I think the Democrats (plus more than a handful of Republicans) should insist that no consideration will be given to anyone without the initials RFK Jr. It would serve as a delightful final chapter in “The Rise and Fall of the Republican Party.” Consider: his father, the AG later gunned down by the BFEE, eventually followed by his son – sweet, eh? And Bobby would “only be a lame-duck AG” yeah, that’s the ticket. You may say I’m a dreamer – but what a sweet dream…
Great point Robert, Thanks. But still… Sept 17 gives cheney plenty of time for a false flag event and gonzo would stay put under marshal law. Sorry, I don’t mean to be a downer, its just how my brain works concerning these criminals.
There is a time to punish, and a time to reconcile.
This is a time to punish the republican party for being a rubber stamp for six years, and supporting great damage to our national reputation, economy, and rule of law.
As a technical matter, I don’t think resignation ends the possibility of impeachment, although I understand that it will not happen now.
There is a pretty good argument (made by others – but I don’t remember who to give credit) that post – resignation impeachment of some of the iran-contra folk would have been a good move because it would have prevented them from being recycled into this administration (Abrams and Poindexter,perhaps – although I don’t recall if they held offices subject to impeachment at the time)
BB2: Brad was sending you a new game he was working on…OPEN IT! (just kidding)
Uptoolate #23
Impeachment only applies to those holding federal office:
(Article I, Section 3, emphasis added). After leaving office there is no way to impeach. The criminal process takes over then.
The advantage of not being impeached is that the president can pardon those who have not been impeached:
(Article II, Section 2, emphasis added).