Editorial
Friday, April 20, 2007
If the Senate hearing Thursday is any indicator, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should clean out his desk and depart. Dishonesty, incompetence, evasiveness _ every sin in public life _ were all pinned on the nation's top lawman. Quitting, not continuing, is the only option.
He found few defenders on the skeptical panel with several senators putting it straight out: The hedged answers and partial responses over the firings of U.S. attorneys make it clear that Gonzales must go. The Capitol Hill session did him no good.
In one sense, Gonzales had an impossible mission in explaining his department's heavy-handed firing of eight regional federal prosecutors. The record is a sorry display of political retribution disguised as job reviews.
Yet the attorney general could have factually explained the process of reviewing the U.S. attorneys and explained the purported shortcomings that led to their dismissals. He dodged this chance to clarify his role. Instead the outcome has paralyzed his leadership and the department.
His answers from the witness chair were skimpy. Gonzales conceded he'd fallen short, repeatedly telling his questioners that he'd made mistakes and mishandled the firings. Before the Judiciary Committee, he was all meek solicitude and regret. Over and over, he sent the message that he should have handled the episode differently, communicated more clearly and become more involved and watchful.
But the mea culpas at this late date won't cut it. Accepting blame and promising to do better doesn't repair the damage to morale, image and public stature that Gonzales & Co. have brought on the Department of Justice. He continues to stand by the dismissals, nearly all of them imbued with a heavy dose of Republican politics.
His unconvincing words drew angry responses. Democrats such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein and New York's Charles Schumer laid into him with detailed questions about individual firings and the tangled efforts to explain them by Gonzales' staff.
But the biggest political surprise may be the tepid support the attorney general drew from members of his own party. John Cornyn, a fellow Texan, who also once served on that state's supreme court with Gonzales, said the handling of the firings was "really deplorable." Oklahoma conservative Tom Coburn said the best course was for Gonzales to quit. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said the attorney general's tenure was up to him and President Bush. With friends like these, it's hard to see how he can hang on. In its politics, the White House famously values loyalty above all else. It's a factor that Gonzales, a Texas long timer, who goes back decades with President Bush, has counted on to weather the scandal.
But the Senate committee grilling should show the most diehard Bush loyalist that Gonzales' service is at an end. It's time for him to resign.
This is the modus oprandi by
This is the modus oprandi by the Bush administration - do what ever you want until caught, lie, cheat and steal and remember the president will stand behind you if your one of his freinds. Two examples of this thought process is Wolfowitz and Gonzales. What ever happened to the concept of removing corruption. Comparing this adminstrations' corruption to that which existed before King George, there is no comaparison. The president is not a man of honor and has no accountability - what a poor example of what a leader should be, a role model for our children?
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