Under the Coverage With Alberto Gonzales
Last night, we felt a pang of sadness that the vacationing Daily Show would not be able to provide a well-deserved helping of comedic coverage of Alberto Gonzales' retirement. They earned their shot, after all, as few media organizations can claim to have pointed out Gonzo's artless, nausea-inducing, on-the-stand prevarications as firmly as the most trusted name in fake news. Of course, reflecting on this (and the constant refrain that more people get their news from Jon Stewart in the first place) caused us to have nagging, wholly fuzzy memories of similar occasions where major news broke just ahead of a Daily Show hiatus. Was Gonzo's resignation timed specifically to avoid Comedy Central's slings and arrows? Surely not -- or else Karl Rove might have been similarly spared. As an exercise, though, consider this matter under watch for the time being.
As far as the rest of the media was concerned, Gonzales' announcement gave everyone something to talk about in the waning interest over Rove and the mining disaster in Crandall Canyon. Had Gonzales waited another week, who knows? That silly contest FishbowlDC ran a month ago might have reached dire, front-page proportions. The Washington Post's Dan Balz and Michael Abramowitz, though, deserve credit for penning this sentence: "Yet the resignation was almost as surprising as it was long expected." In so doing. they not only succinctly captured the moment, but also finally found a way to compare Alberto Gonzales to a prostate cancer diagnosis. Truly, a journalistic coup!
Reactions: CNN's headline on the reactions to the news attempted to play up just how unpopular Gonzales had become with just about everyone: "Even some Republicans happy about Gonzales resignation." Not to dent their claim, but basing that assertion on quotes offered by New England GOP mavericks -- like John Sununu, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- only carries so much weight. Buried in the piece are two more "traditional" Republican reactions from Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn, who both robotically recited talking points blaming "partisanship." Cornyn said it was "a sad day and sad commentary on the hyperpartisan atmosphere in Washington, D.C." This, from the same man who suggested that the murders of four people were justifiable in the face of "judicial activism."
Fox News, unsurprisingly, played up "mudslinging" and "Democratic bloodlust" as the key reasons Gonzales found it necessary to quit the stage. The New York Times also quoted President Bush as saying, "It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud." But the Times did so within the larger context of Gonzales being a dedicated "defender" of the administration's point of view where unitary executive power is concerned and as a supporter of his war policies.
Who's Next: The first name to emerge as Gonzo's likely successor was -- for reasons that defy understanding -- Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff, who recently made the news when he attempted to pass off his "gut feelings" as the new Oracle of Delphi in the War on Terror. But as CNN reported, "other senior administration officials started knocking down such reports, telling CNN that Chertoff's role in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath could raise problems during Senate hearings."
CNN went on to provide the day's most comprehensive list of potential replacements. Larry Thompson, who served as deputy Attorney General, was floated, given a measure of support from CNN's Roland Martin, and then, apparently, shot down as well. Other names included: former Solicitor General Ted Olson, Bush family lawyer and confidant George Terwilliger, as well as "U.S. Circuit Judge Laurence H. Silberman, current Solicitor General Paul Clement and former Sens. Slade Gorton, John Danforth and Asa Hutchinson."
"Democratic strategist" Bob Beckel, in a clear sign that he is, perhaps, too heavily invested in Hell-based snowballs, told Fox News that he believed "that Bush would name a Democrat just to get a nominee through the Democratic-led Senate," an idea that was apparently immediately pooh-poohed by Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes.
On the campaign trail: As you might suspect, the Democratic candidates for President each weighed in on the news with some variation on "the time had come....better late than never...Gonzales was a bad Attorney General...yadda-dee-blah-da-dee." On the other hand, reactions on the GOP side of the campaign were something of a deafening silence. Dana Milbank noted that Rudy Giuliani's first press release of the day was titled: "Dems Will Raise Taxes."
Speaking of Milbank, the Post reporter went to trouble of documenting precisely when each candidate first responded to Gonzales announcement yesterday, thus ably serving those of us whose lives are too suffused with meaning and contentment to bother tracking that sort of thing. For the record, though, it went like this: John Edwards (8:34 a.m.), Barack Obama (9:09 a.m.), Bill Richardson (9:28 a.m.), Joe Biden (10:15 a.m.), Hillary Clinton (11:04 a.m.), and Chris Dodd (11:12 a.m.). All of them were beaten to the punch, however, by early bird and worm-getter Charles Schumer: the senator got in the first licks of the day at 8:17 a.m. Milbank also noted that Schumer deployed his "full arsenal of clichés" over the course of the day, and bragged about being "the first to call for the attorney general to step down."
Related:
Even some Republicans happy about Gonzales resignation [CNN]
President Bush Blames Mud-Slinging for Gonzales Resignation [Fox News]
Gonzales, Loyal to Bush, Held Firm on War Policies [New York Times]
A Defender of Bush's Power, Gonzales Resigns [New York Times]
Who will succeed Gonzales? The name-dropping game begins [CNN]
Gonzales Dug His Own Grave, and Many Are Happy to Dance on It [Washington Post]
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HuffingtonPost.com Jason Linkins First Posted: 03/28/08 03:44 AM ET Updated: 05/25/11 01:10 PM ET