Bye Bye 'Berto
WANTED: Total toady. Not a cut-and-runner. Must love torture. Contempt for Constitution a plus. Amnesia essential. Benefits include media boredom the day your mission is accomplished, plus a tenured position at the George W. Bush Library and Institute.
No sooner did word of Alberto Gonzales's resignation leak than the talking heads on TV started spreading the new conventional wisdom: official Washington is happy to let him slither off to private life without further persecution or prosecution. All that politicization of the Justice Department, forgiven. All those perjury thingies, forgotten. All the stonewalling and can't-recalls, yesterday's news.
Yesterday, his name was "embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales." Tomorrow, he'll swap "embattled" for "former." Not "disgraced." Not "impeached." Not "indicted." Not even "controversial." He'll join Karl Rove in the great reputation laundry, a figure of Beltway sympathy.
"Ya gotta respect a guy with that kind of loyalty," pundits will say, placing his loyalty to a corrupt administration above his loyalty to the American people." Orrin Hatch will contend that he doesn't understand what the big fuss was all about. Arlen Specter will let bygones be bygones. Gonzales's departure, like every other symptom of Republican pathology, will be proclaimed a GOP victory. "Now Bush has a chance to accomplish some major items on his agenda before the end of his term," we will be told. You know, like warrantless wiretapping, swifter executions, phony terrorist busts, corrupt prosecutions, and interference with free elections.
If Americans didn't have the attention span of a newt, if the media cared as much about the health of democracy as the health of the bottom line, if Democrats had the courage of their convictions, the last chapter of the Alberto Gonzales story will not have been written the day he resigned. If, if, if... I know: If Gonzales had had integrity, he wouldn't have been an invertebrate.
UPDATE: Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx) says it's a sad day for the country when the top Hispanic in the nation is hounded from office. Yeah, and Clarence Thomas is the top African-American in the nation.
UPDATE II: In his brief public appearance, Gonzales says only that he is "concluding" his public service. No "citing personal reasons." No questions from the press. Like Cornyn, he plays the Hispanic card: "My worst day on the job was better than my father's best day." I wonder if his fath-- WAIT! Look over here! It's Michael Vick!
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Ditto on the facts, what this man has done to our country, and continued investigations are a must. But he has only done the bidding for the Republicans.
A foot soldiers that have turned the US Government -- through the agencies Americans pay to protect their interests -- INTO central headquarters for the American Fascist Republican Party, under Bush/Cheeney and their Chief Architect Karl Rove...Off to help Freddy.
And that this has been done to a sacred institutions: The United States Justice Department
But do not kid yourselves, without a truly educated electorate the Republicans are not going away, and each time come back stronger.
As for those who are using this opportunity to trash the Democrats you must have trouble with Nuance Or are too busy working to follow the as investigations have just begun.
When they left, The republican majority (after 12 years) --left behind the biggest pile of poop filled laundry, snake filled pipes, and corRoded wiring and leaking roofs ******BY DESIGN**** -- of the modern age, if not history.
This not only after 12 years of destruction,
BUT, recommended "POLICY" by their strategists and consultants.
Excuse me for using analogy, (already been removed from the SATs) --- But Since Republicans performed no oversight --- while the wolves built kitchens and ate the chickens daily. Since bad news will come out during the Democrats, simple Republican Media management will make it seem that the guilty party is the Democrats.
In the 7 months since the Democrats entered by a SLIM majority. They have held about 500 FACT BASED hearings..
And as the facts comes out and what is done with the information will require prioritizing for the IMPORTANT.
One must Keep In Mind: that the damage has been done, and that it is the Executive branch that runs our government AND THAT STRENGTH MUST BE PRESERVED TO CHANGE THE smelly head of the fish not just smash it.
The Democrats need to play this card right - I've been reading the statements of Reid and Kennedy, Obama, etc, but while everyone is stating that Bush needs to be appointing a fair A.G., a lawyer for the "people, instead of for the President," the Democrats really should be claiming their victory...
Otherwise, this is another way for Bush to disarm the Democrats, and Gonzo and Rove and Scooter and the rest will go scott free riding away in the sunset of the public's memory. This is a horrifying Republican tactic that by the Election, the public will be suffering from amnesia of their crimes - we need to see this for what is - a Republican strategy, and the Democrats need to call it out for what it is.
whatever you are doing -quit now and becaome a democratic strategist- your country NEEDS YOU
Bye Bye Berto...do
Now...it's time to pursue charges against Torturo and his ilk (think John Yoo), related to their direct violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996.
The only question that remains, is how Bush is going to find anyone worse than Torturo? But, I thought it was impossible to find anyone worse than Ashcroft, and Bush made that one look easy. I have faith...he
Just a heads up to the impatient!
On Common Dreams, the Glenn Greenwald article re: Gonzales.A commentor, posts that Harry Reid, made an agreement woith Bush that there would be no recess appointments this summer. Otherwise the Senate would NOT have recessed! Now lets see if Bush can keep his "Gentleman's agreement"
Which current Congressional leader has made the following statements: "Don't cross this line or we'll investigate. OK, don't cross this line or we'll subpoena. OK, don't cross this line or we'll cut funding. OK, don't cross this line or we'll.....
A) Pat Leahey
B) Harry Reid
C) John Conyers
D) All of the above
Chertoff to replace him? Good God.
Isn't that a bit like swapping a 'roid for a tumor?
Flatus-
"'roid for a tumor"....
Laughed out loud.
Will justice ever come to the Justice Department? Except for Bobby Kennedy, all of our President have parked Justice with political hacks and hanger-ons. Which hack will we see coming walking through the door during the recess. Maybe the teacher who was in the class room when old dumb evil W was teaching young kids during a photo op when the planes hit the World Trade Center.
Martin S Friedlander, Esq.
Even in his farewell speech, 'Berto lied:
"Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days" This statement is patently false (and essentially lacking esteem for another man's life).
No man can say that his worst days are better than anyone else's best days, regardless of whether the other man is your father, your brother, or a friend. Each person's life, no matter how difficult, has moments of joy, and often those lives lived hard are those lived best.
For 'Berto to say that about his very own father is yet another demonstration of his own blindness to, or disregard of, simple Truth.
Give no quarter to a wounded pakaderm. It will only turn into another rogue elephant. It must be hunted down. Bush, Sr. and Jr. are also Gulf War rogues who spawn these creatures who torture and kill innocent humans for the fun of it.
Henry Gonzalez introduced articles of impeachment against Bush, Sr. Nixon, Reagan, and Bush, Sr. were all rogues and could have been stopped.
When the cat jumps on their backs, they go down. Thanks, Marty.
I love that last comment about Michael Vick. I listened to Laura Ingram this morning and that's exactly what she was talking about. And I didn't' get the whole jist of the conversation but somehow she blamed Liberals. It seemed that Gonzo was the last thing on her mind. Newt Attention Span I guess.
you should stop listening to that show before it makes you retarded like the rest of her listeners
"It has been one of my greatest privileges to lead the Department of Justice," Gonzales said, announcing his resignation effective Sept. 17 in a terse statement. He took no questions.
Hell, I could use a privilege like that! I don't think I heard anything about responsibility. Constitutional responsibility? I guess, he too, took an oath to the (p)resident and not the constitution.
Funny how Cons manages to comit the offenses they always accused Liberals of under bUsh
It would have been better (understanding how the current admin works) to keep him there. The spineless dems will now feel like it's 'too complicated' to pursue. They'll claim a sort of victory and let it ride.
Your assertion that Gonzo will slip away into the night is premature.
"This resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House," Reid warned.
I think that Rove and Gonzales were complicit in a number of blatently illegal schemes to control the outcome of the 2004 election - the dismissed judges, the caging of African American voters, etc.... I believe that Reid is referring to this stuff. I think we've only scratched the surface.
Interesting that both Rove and Gonzales resigned..
I know, let's do a television reality show, "One Week on Death Row, staring Fredo G." Why one week? So that we can have enough time to order a rubber stamp that says "Refused" before we actually lethally inject the star of the show as the sick and public finale.
Why a rubber stamp? So we can under-pay an illegal-immigrant temp to stamp each of the 157 (I think that's the number) Xeroxed pleas to avoid execution that we will print up for Fredo. One for each of the pleas back in Texas which Fredo didn't care enough to genuinely consider when GW was gov. Hey, these folks really believe in the death penalty, so let's give them their fondest wish.
Oh, and about halfway into that week, the new AG can step in with the new, accelerated death penalty buttinsky powers, and order the lethal injection on wednesday instead of saturday night (Live) (doncha love irony?).
I CAN'T RECALL anything that has made me more happier in recent weeks, other than Rove's ta-ta, as he re-deployed to Texas.
Roll on 1-20-09 for total re-deployment.
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