Good Bye Alberto Gonzalez!!
First it was Karl and now it's Alberto. Yes, finally, for the good of the country, one of the most partisan and ineffective Attorney Generals ever will leave. Gonzalez makes you long for John Ashcroft and maybe even John Mitchell -- oh well maybe not Mitchell.
He leaves an AG office that had turned partisan politics into an art form -- the most visible example being the firing of the US Attorneys -- but it also involved things like the wire tapping, surveillance, his apparent support for what appears to be torture, the hiring of people simply for political reasons. This is good news and may open things up for more transparency -- depending on who GW chooses as a replacement. The name being bandied about so far is Michael Chertoff -- Homeland Security Secretary. To my mind that's not a good choice. Besides, he already has a job that needs tending to. Pull someone in from the outside, someone with integrity and independence. At one time a suggested replacement was John Danforth -- I think that would be a wise choice if Danforth is willing to serve.
So, thank goodness that Alberto Gonzalez did the right thing. Now hopefully he'll do here as he did with replacing Rumsfeld and get a qualified person to run this department for the next fifteen months or so.
Comments
The problem with the resignations is that these people keep getting recycled through right wing administrations--like Cheney and Rumsfeld. Impeachment, trial, and conviction and--even if they only spend a little time in jail--they are disqualified from serving in any future administrations. Resignation is too easy for Gonzalez. Mitchell, at least, paid for his crimes.
I agree that this can't be the end of things. But maybe a fresh face will rid the department of the partisan hawks and we'll start seeing some of the evidence needed to make sense of what's been happening.