by DemFromCT
Republicans close to the White House tell CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that President Bush is in "his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire." But sources also said Gonzales' firing is just a matter of time.
The White House is bracing for a weekend of criticism and more calls for Gonzales to go. One source tells CBS News he's never seen the administration in such deep denial, and Republicans are growing increasingly restless for the president to take action.
The Justice Department has said the attorneys were fired for performance issues, but CBS News has also obtained performance reviews for some of the fired U.S. attorneys. Nine months before John McKay was fired as the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, he was described as an "effective, well-regarded and capable leader," Axelrod reports.
We see the typical pattern: deny, deny, resist, resist, capitulate. The desire not to appear weak makes Bush look, well, weak. Again.
Reality must be so painful for these people. And yeah, elections matter, even when the votes aren't there (and we don't know that until/unless each issue comes to a vote). In the meantime, it's only a matter of time before Gonzales, along with Miers and Rove, are exposed for what they are... partisan politicians interested only in partisan politics. And they are also, of course, Bush's closest advisors.
The circle will continue to tighten right up until 2008, damaging the Republican brand even further than it is. Just ask John McCain.
Yes. Will I win a bet: Gonzo is a goner in a month?
Posted by: Sid58 | March 16, 2007 at 22:23
that's what the KoolAide is for
reality has a liberal bias
Karma is a bitch
as ye sow shall yea reap
what comes around goes around
the lessons were all there
seems that we're dealing with people who are incapable of learning
Posted by: freepatriot | March 16, 2007 at 22:42
Sid: I've got the under on Tuesday.
Posted by: smiley | March 17, 2007 at 03:23
"Partisan" does not do justice to the malevolent activities of Rove and Gonzalez. Their efforts to create a permanent majority threaten the democratic system.
Posted by: KdmFromPhila | March 17, 2007 at 07:34
It's beginning to look a lot like the "Heckuvajob Brownie" ploy with a dash of Rumsfeld 'support' tossed in.
Posted by: Chris Rich | March 17, 2007 at 10:01
I dunno if Gonzales will be forced out or not. I remember when we were hopeful that Karl Rove would be frog-marched to jail. Didn't happen.
Frankly, I think Gonzales should be jailed for his repeated violations of the Constitution. And that we should return "justice" to the Justice Department.
Posted by: Publicus | March 17, 2007 at 11:23
Gonzales isn't Rove and this isn't pre-Nov 2006.
Posted by: DemFromCT | March 17, 2007 at 11:34
We should step back and look at what has happened since 2001 when the vote was decided by a supreme court
since that time, this country has changed more than it has in 200 years. We appear to be immune to daily revelations about crimes being committed by the white house staff and willing participants in each branch of the government. We have enough information about a conspiracy, simply by the admissions of witnesses in the Libby trial, not to mention the 200 other investigations that have brought charges or guilty verdicts. This is an unprecedented attempt to seize power in a methodical manner.
It is with great disgust that I watch and see no real activity by congress to actually force compliance with the laws, or shut this government down to stop the criminal activity. They have the power, but all but a very few lack any will to act.
But just so you know that it is politics as usual, I got a request in the mail for money from one of the recently elected representatives. From us this person wants money to wage his re election battle. All ready they have forgotten why they were elected and gone into the "prevent" mode. You can bet that we will see no real action because they got what they wanted by promising us the moon, and delivering a scoop of fertilizer to the front door, in a bag, on fire.
whose going to put out the fire?
Posted by: oldtree | March 17, 2007 at 11:40
Apparently the scandal is still growing -- Josh Marshall has up a video from Pittsburgh, a local TV station, KDKA has raised the question regarding their local USA who apparently was considered a "good bushie" and has been indicting local high profile Democrats right and left, but leaving questions about Republicans in Limbo. If similar questions are raised locally around the country, and provide the basis for something Leahy and friends should address, it may well come to the point that simply greasing the exit of Gonzales will no longer be an adequate response to the problem as we now understand it.
Just the same, I expect Bush to try to cut his losses toward the end of next week. Then his problem will be a replacement who will pass muster with Leahy's Committee -- and that will definately not be a "good bushie" candidate.
I frankly think the truth of all this really goes back to the decision to appoint John Ashcroft as AG in 2001. As Richard Clarke put it, Ashcroft was just dumb -- an extremely slow study on all the things he thought Ashcroft ought to be serious about in the wake of 9/11, and more than willing to take direction from the politicals in the WH as opposed to the real investigative resources he had in DOJ and the FBI. My own guess is that they picked the dumb cluck who lost his senate seat to a dead man because it allowed them to move management of DOJ into the WH, and politicize it. What we are seeing now with Gonzales is an extension of that. If plausable, the confirmation of a replacement ought to be about ending this project.
What I fear is an effort to restore someone like Edward Meese to DOJ -- they did put him on the Baker-Hamilton Commission afterall, from whence came Bob Gates who went to DOD.
Posted by: Sara | March 17, 2007 at 13:06
I agree that Gonzo can't survive this. Maybe if he were HUD Secretary, but not as Attorney General, the post is just too important. And it's one thing to taint the disbursement of housing funds, and another to taint the whole federal justice system, as these folks have.
But again--who are they going to appoint as his successor? They have apparently brought in James Comey's former COS to be Gonzales' COS. Now Comey would be a good choice for AG, but he's too much of a straight shooter for the Bush people (he appointed Patrick Fitzgerald), who, after all, needed Alberto to keep the bodies buried and bury all the new ones.
I just can't see the Dems approving anyone who isn't going to be independent, and I can't see Bush appointing someone who is. But better a standoff over something like this than the Iraq War.
Posted by: Mimikatz | March 17, 2007 at 13:15
Not going to be Ed Meese. Not in a million years. He's not a Bob Gates even if they did put him on the B-H Commission.
Posted by: Mimikatz | March 17, 2007 at 13:17
when gonzales gets dumped - and he will - fully one-third of bush's front line disappears... right now, he's got gonzo, cheney, and rove between him and his own personal waterloo... with gonzo gone, bush has a completely exposed flank... i'm predicting that, when alberto is shown the door, the floodgates will open and the crap that will come flooding out will be staggering...
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/
Posted by: profmarcus | March 17, 2007 at 13:31
The question that struck me most during the hearing yesterday was when Ms. Plame was asked whether she was a Republican or Democrat. I was stunned. These people really believe that the entire world can be categorized in this way. It is entirely beyond their comprehension that civil servants throughout the federal government, whether covert or not, take their obligation seriously to serve in the best interest of the country and its citizens. Career civil servants go to work each day genuinely believing their work is to do what is best for the country. Unfortunately, those running the Republican Party (and the country -- for now) believe their primary allegiance is to their party. It is with this skewed loyalty that they rewrite scientific research they don't like, ignore facts that don't fit their preconceived notions, and punish those whose job performance does not serve the interests of their party. Of course, Rove and all his little chums are partisans. Of course, the Republicans on the committee are partisans. But my heart sank all the same, when after a pause Ms. Plame answered Democrat. I wish she had looked that man right in the eye and said American.
Posted by: phred | March 17, 2007 at 14:27
The 'equivalence' of Bush's hyper-partisanship (see the Gonzales story) and the 'they all do it' concept that the media and others push is as astounding as it is untrue.
Posted by: DemFromCT | March 17, 2007 at 14:39
I hope Gonzalez' lying under oath is pursued and he ends up being disbarred.
Posted by: Powerpuff | March 17, 2007 at 14:56
oldtree --It is with great disgust that I watch and see no real activity by congress to actually force compliance with the laws, or shut this government down to stop the criminal activity. They have the power, but all but a very few lack any will to act.
This is one part of the bitter fruit we will harvest from 6 years of unchecked eavesdropping by Bush. You may be sure that some of those Democrats we are counting on are now being blackmailed, politically or otherwise.
Posted by: mamayaga | March 17, 2007 at 16:22
Congressman Jim Traficant of Ohio was convicted of taking bribes, racketeering and filing false tax returns and was expelled from Congress in 2002. He still claims his innocence. He says the FBI guy who brought racketeering charges against him in the '80s (Traficant beat those charges -- the only American defending himself to do ever beat government attorneys in RICO charges) brought the charges in 2002 as a vendetta.
We laughed at Traficant at the time for being so outspoken and flamboyant. Wonder if we jumped to conclusions?
Posted by: pol | March 17, 2007 at 19:11
I agree with Pol, with one exception:
I didn't laugh at Traficant because he was "so outspoken and flamboyant". I laughed at Mr Traficant because the guy was wearing the worst rug I've ever seen.
I figure that if a guy would try to lie about being bald, there's no telling what else the guy would lie about
and that rug was the worst lie I've ever seen (meaning the easiest to see thru)
other than the bad rug, I have no reason to doubt that Mr Traficant might be the victim of a bushista political vendetta
Posted by: freepatriot | March 17, 2007 at 19:58
and now that I think of it, it DOES seem suspicious that Traficant was the only corrupt politician that bush could find in Ohio. From what I've heard since 2002, you couldn't swing a dead cat in Ohio without hitting a corrupt politician
Posted by: freepatriot | March 17, 2007 at 20:00
The rug is real, according to a comment on Wikipedia.
It was noted in connection with his "mug shot" that James wears a toupee. This is, in fact, his own hair. I spent time with Mr. Traficant in Rochester MCI and can attest to his having a full head of hair. M. Peters 12035041
Also, I just found via Daily Kos that ePluribus Media has a list of Democrats who have been investigated since the Bush administration began. They're asking for help finding comments from those Democrats where they state they thought they were being targeted for being Democrats.
Posted by: pol | March 17, 2007 at 20:08
Oops. The link for ePluribus Media is
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/3/15/13642/3362
Posted by: pol | March 17, 2007 at 20:10
It would be wise for us to now consider the republican party as a criminal enterprise. Their goals are obvious, and we can list conspiracies that we have factual evidence relating to their criminal intent.
it is going to be difficult to put these people in jail, but our country deserves this. There are not enough people in this country to outweigh the majority. One would presume that the majority would want justice done.
Posted by: oldtree | March 18, 2007 at 11:14
Re Jim Traficant's rug:
me thinks that "M Peters 12035041" is a pseudonym, perhaps used by a person incarcerated in a federal prison in White Deer, Pennsylvania. ???
it might be his own hair, but it ain't attached to his head in the normal manner
IT'S A RUG
.some days I just gotta pick the nits
Posted by: freepatriot | March 18, 2007 at 18:28