BLOG | Posted 04/16/2007 @ 1:44pm
Hold Gonzales Accountable, Then Bush
As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales prepares to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, the official question is: Will the former White House counsel be able to talk himself out of a scandal involving the firing of US Attorneys, the politicization of federal prosecutions, Karl Rove's "lost" e-mails and the little matter of lying to Congress?
But that's not the question that matters.
Gonzales is finished. The best he can accomplish is a stay of execution that would allow him to remain at the Department of Justice until the controversy dies down enough for him to quietly slip out the back door late on one of those Friday afternoons when the Bush administration gets rid of its embarrassments. Were Gonzales to be allowed to remain in his position through the remainder of Bush's term, it would make America over as a land without laws or even the barest sense of propriety.
That might have been a viable prospect when the US was passing through the dark interregnum of one-party rule that defined the first years of the 21st century. But it is unlikely with a Congress now controlled by the opposition Democrats, and with Senate and House judiciary committees composed of Democrats and even a few Republicans who have displayed the backbones that were in such short supply prior of November 7 of last year. Just consider Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy's response to the White House's "lost" e-mails lie -- "Those e-mails are there, they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary…" – and it becomes clear that the system of checks and balances is being renewed.
...(snip)...
That Bush was deep into the politics of this scandal should come as no surprise. Anyone who has followed this president closely knows that he becomes most engaged when the discussion turns to electoral politics – the one subject, aside from baseball, about which he is genuinely well-versed. Keen observers of this administration's inner workings know, as well, that it would be comic to think that this most political of presidents was not conscious of the ramifications of what was being discussed at the meeting Bartlett described. Indeed, the only thing more comic would be a suggestion that Gonzales, who is about nothing so much as doing Bush's bidding, would miss the cue from the president.
Will the truth come out?
Those e-mails from Rove--currently "lost" but soon to be found--will help the process along, as will all of the other documents that Congressional investigators have requested. And testimony from the White House political czar, and from other political players who were in communication with Rove and the president – testimony that will have to be compelled by Congress--could well begin to close the circle.
Ultimately, even in this administration, someone might start telling the truth. And the truth is that Gonzales has never been anything but a bit player. The controversy that matters is not about the Attorney General's hiring practices. It is about a lawless administration, and the president who has led this country further and further from its Constitutional moorings. ......
The complete piece is at:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=186441
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
