As much as I hate to say so, Bush is right. Gonzales was totally adamantine about not letting the White House become the focus of the hearing.
If the committees of the House and Senate do not get to the actual truth about the way the Republicans have destroyed the Justice Department, that show of GOP Senators anger and sadness will all be so much ca-ca.
Mr. Gonzales did exactly what the White House sent him out to do… Gonzales says now that the decision to fire the US Attorneys was entirely his to make, and that he made it. It is a lie, of course, but the Republicans are pushing it very, very hard. Arlen Specter, whose comments at the Gonzales hearing were very harsh indeed, said last Friday on PBS Newshour that he thinks there is nothing going on hee except incompetence. There is no evidence that the Bush White House has made any serious politcal mistakes. On the contrary, they have been able to sacrifice some individuals to keep the conspiracy mostly under wraps and in operation.
Everything they do that blows up, blows up at someone else’s expense. Iraq war: Big win for the White House team, it allowed them to run the nation with a GOP majority in each House of Congress.
Iraq: The White House fired Donald Rumsfeld, as if he had the total responsibility for the failure there. And without changing any policy regarding the war and the occupation.
Hurricane Katrina: Embarassing for the FEMA direcor, who had to step down, but his boss the Secretary, who said on TV that there was no flooding in New Orleans when it was evident that there was flooding. And Mr. Bush got to make a speech in Jackson Square.
The Valerie Plame mater: US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald made Scooter Libby the focus of the matter. Libby was the number one assistant to the Vice President, but the investigation went no further because Mr. Fizgerald was in complete charge of the investigation. Fitzgerald did a very workmanlike job of changing the subject. When he started the question was responsibility for poisoning the work of the CIA and in the process killing the career of Plame and probably some of her network as well. When Fitzgerald was done, Libby was found guilty by a jury, but he will never have to serve a jail term… he will get a pardon exactly like Caspar Weinberger got a pardon from Mr Bush 41.
The firings of the eight US Attorneys is not really about the firings, no matter what the Republicans say. It is really about keeping the other 85 US Attorneys who did everything they could to prosecute Democrats, and who did everything they could to not prosecute Republicans. Gonzales is in the conspiract up to his bellybutton, but firing him will not expose the conspiracy, and will not end it.
It was reported in a New Mexico newspaper that Gonzales actually protected David Iglesias for several years. Perhaps, this situation is like Al Smith, who was told by his Tammy Hall boss that he was to do a very good job as Governor, regardless of what was good for The Party, because Boss McManus wanted everybody in the country to see an Irish politician doing a very good job as Governor. It will be a wonderful historical irony if Gonzales is tripped up by the firing of Iglesias, because Gonzales did not allow that name on the list until he got a personal call from President Bush. We need fo find a way to get Gonzales to talk about that phone call, in public.
This has always been about changing the subject, getting someone to take responsibility as if he had actually done the dirty work himself, and getting rid of the designated party.
If the trail gets cold after Alberto Gonzales leaves office, shame on all of us.
