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Bush ally Gonzales resigns post

US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, embroiled in a row over sacked prosecutors, has resigned. BBC

Mr. Gonzales Exits Stage Right

Jay B. Gaskill

The son of a construction worker in Texas, one of a family of eight, a second generation Mexican who was awarded his JD at Harvard in 1982, has resigned under pressure from Congress.

“Even my worst days as Attorney General have been better that my father’s best days. Public service is honorable, and noble, and I am profoundly grateful to President Bush for his friendship and for the many opportunities he has given me to serve the American people.”

Alberto Gonzales was an effective lawyer who enraged liberals because he was far too conservative for a minority person, provoking the same ‘We’ve got to get him!” rage that almost brought down Justice Clarence Thomas.

Reasonable minds can disagree about Mr. Gonzales’ positions on the domestic wiretapping issue, the refusal to extend habeas corpus to suspected terrorists who are not US citizens and the other civil liberties controversies that the terror-jihad have generated. But his positions were neither so unpopular with the public at large, nor so completely out of the range of reasonable opinion as to be dismissed out of hand At least one professor at my former alma mater (Boalt Hall, U. C. Berkeley’s law school) is in general agreement with most of Mr. Gonzales’s positions on national security jurisprudence.

But Mr. Gonzales was a target waiting for a “clean shot” from the moment he was sworn in.

Under the guidance of a still unnamed Administration political operative, the Justice Department managed to move the bull’s eye directly at the Attorney General.

When the Administration summarily fired (or forced resignations) of several Assistant U.S. attorneys, that action was nominally within the scope of presidential prerogatives. After all, the U.S.A. appointees serve “at will”. But it was accomplished with the maladroit clumsiness and political tone deafness of a novice school principal who suddenly decides to terminate six popular teachers, but cloaks the action in a vague fog ball press release, huffing and puffing about her authority.

It was a perfect opportunity for a fatal shot, and the president’s enemies just couldn’t take a pass.

“When questions arose over the dismissal of eight United States attorneys, Mr. Gonzales dismissed the controversy as ‘an overblown personnel matter,’ insisting that the prosecutors had been removed strictly on the basis of their performance. But after e-mail messages were released showing that his chief of staff had worked closely with the White House in developing the list of attorneys to be fired, Mr. Gonzales admitted that ‘mistakes were made,’ although he insisted that he had played no direct role in the decision.” - New York Times, March 15, 2007

“Gonzales said he would find out why Congress was not told sooner that the White House was involved in discussions of who would be fired and when.” … “Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty, told lawmakers under oath that the decision to fire the U.S. attorneys was made solely by the department and was based on performance, not politics.’ New York Post, March 14, 2007:

It didn’t help – sorry Mr. Gonzales – that the Attorney General’s personal deportment and on-stage presence was less than commanding. The invitation to act the bully was far too tempting to Congressional Democrats who have lost credibility with their base by failing to check this president in any meaningful way.

Mr. Bush has been more loyal to his people than any president in memory, but he has undoubtedly given ground on the Attorney General in a hoped for exchange for support when General Petraeus’s report on the surge is received next month. When the question of supplemental war funding once again must be taken up the congress, he will have most of the Blue Dog democrats (essentially “red state” compatible) on his side in the House (see the list below), but he’ll need about five key votes in the Senate.

Has Mr. Bush miscalculated? I don’t think so, but….

Stay tuned.

BLUE DOGS IN THE CONGRESS ARE SAID TO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

[ ] Mike Arcuri (New York)

[ ] Joe Baca (California)

[ ] John Barrow (Georgia)

[ ] Melissa Bean (Illinois)

[ ] Marion Berry (Arkansas)

[ ] Sanford Bishop (Georgia)

[ ] Dan Boren (Oklahoma)

[ ] Leonard Boswell (Iowa)

[ ] Allen Boyd (Florida), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Administration

[ ] Dennis Cardoza (California)

[ ] Christopher Carney (Pennsylvania)

[ ] Ben Chandler (Kentucky)

[ ] Jim Cooper (Tennessee)

[ ] Jim Costa (California)

[ ] Bud Cramer (Alabama)

[ ] Lincoln Davis (Tennessee)

[ ] Joe Donnelly (Indiana)

[ ] Brad Ellsworth (Indiana)

[ ] Gabrielle Giffords (Arizona)

[ ] Kirsten Gillibrand (New York)

[ ] Bart Gordon (Tennessee)

[ ] Jane Harman (California)

[ ] Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (South Dakota), Blue Dog Whip

[ ] Baron Hill (Indiana)

[ ] Tim Holden (Pennsylvania)

[ ] Steve Israel (New York)

[ ] Nick Lampson (Texas)

[ ] Tim Mahoney (Florida)

[ ] Jim Marshall (Georgia)

[ ] Jim Matheson (Utah)

[ ] Mike McIntyre (North Carolina)

[ ] Charlie Melancon (Louisiana)

[ ] Mike Michaud (Maine)

[ ] Dennis Moore (Kansas), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Policy

[ ] Patrick Murphy (Pennsylvania)

[ ] Collin Peterson (Minnesota)

[ ] Earl Pomeroy (North Dakota)

[ ] Mike Ross (Arkansas), Blue Dog Co-Chair for Communications

[ ] John Salazar (Colorado)

[ ] Loretta Sanchez (California)

[ ] Adam Schiff (California)

[ ] David Scott (Georgia)

[ ] Heath Shuler (North Carolina)

[ ] Zack Space (Ohio)

[ ] John Tanner (Tennessee)

[ ] Gene Taylor (Mississippi)

[ ] Mike Thompson (California)

[ ] Charlie Wilson (Ohio)