Colorado Turns Against Gonzales

by emptywheel

I'm sure I'm overly optimistic in my discussion of Senate opposition to Gonzales. Still, events in Colorado suggest I may not be overly optimistic in the long term. Colorado's Senators pulled a one-two punch this week, with Wayne Allard suggesting he is troubled by the events that led to the installation of Troy Eid as USA, followed by Ken Salazar calling for Gonzales' resignation outright.

Allard, who didn't make my list of potential Republican votes against Gonzales, reacted badly to news that CO's interim USA William Leone was on a DOJ list of potential firing candidates (hat tip Progress Now).

"Obviously, if (Allard) finds out that something was in play here, he's going to be very disappointed," he added.

Mostly, he seems to be realizing that he got dicked around on his choice of USA, who by all accounts was Stu VanMeveren. Allard had been pressured to include Troy Eid on his initial list, which he did. Eid is reported to have faced some vetting problems, as well as the obvious conflict of interest that his wife was named to the State Supreme Court. So Eid withdrew his own nomination. But when Allard forwarded the name of Leone, who was currently serving, the White House installed Eid. Significantly, Allard's Chief of Staff does not rule out Allard voting yes on the no confidence vote next week.

Asked how Allard would vote should a no-confidence resolution reach the Senate floor, Conway said it was too early to say.

"He will cross that bridge when he gets to it," Conway said.

If Gonzales loses Allard's support, he's not going to fare well before the Senate.

Just as significant, however, is Ken Salazar's late-Friday call for Gonzales' resignation.

"I arrive at the decision with a heavy heart and disappointment," said Salazar, D-Colo. He said he admired Gonzales' history as someone who grew up in the projects and went on to rise to the nation's top law-enforcement post. "I very much wanted him to succeed as attorney general."

Salazar is not just one of the conservative Dems we need to retain if we want to get anywhere with this. He is also Gonzales' friend, one of two Senators who presented Gonzales' nomination to the Senate. Coupled with Mark Pryor's call for Gonzales' resignation, Salazar's call will signal to all the conservative Democrats (and perhaps! even Joementum) that they must hang with the Democratic caucus. In other words, with Salazar calling for Gonzales' resignation, it seems very likely we keep the entire Democratic caucus on board for a no confidence vote.

I'm curious about one thing, wrt the Salazar call. What caused him to change his mind?

The earlier Rocky Mountain News article suggested that Salazar planned a meeting to discuss the allegations with Gonzales.

Sen. Ken Salazar, a Democrat with close ties to Gonzales, said Wednesday he was "very troubled" by the allegations, and planned to talk with Gonzales about them. That conversation had not yet occurred Thursday, Salazar spokesman Cody Wertz said.

Did such a meeting occur today? Pryor called for Gonzales' resignation just after meeting with the Attorney General. Did the same thing happen here?

Or did one of the Democratic leaders get to Salazar to convince him that he had to ditch his friend?

Comments

[ab initio]

EW, how do you think this would be gamed? First the no-confidence and then based on who voted for and against, wait to give Bush time to give everyone the big middle finger and then Conyers to start impeachment if it seems they got 67 votes in the Senate? What happens when the JoeMentums and Rethugs decide to continue the protection racket?

It seems the warantless spying "legal basis" and the direct role of Bush in the Hospital Ambush is not catching fire with the Dems in DC. Wonder why?

[hauksdottir]

It takes courage to stand up to an enemy, but even more courage to stand up to a friend.

Would you want to see a friend impeached, indicted, and hauled off to jail, even if he may have deserved such a comeuppance? Suppose that you and the other friends have been trying to convince him to resign, show a bit of remorse, and perhaps scoot out from under the extremely large boulder of public condemnation, yet the stubborn idiot just refuses to listen to reason? That boulder is gathering momentum.... So you hope that by joining with the wall of senators saying they lack confidence, the united voices will convince your friend that the time for stubbornness is past. If they can't pull him to relative safety, he will go splat.

[Some of us may hold up score cards.]

Gonzales can't leave until Memorial Day (and I surely hope that some Senators offer to stay in Washington to keep the lights on). And he might not leave even then. The timing is good for the White House, since the news cycle will bury it, but each resignation has to make the survivors more nervous and demoralized than ever.

In an avalanche, some boulders may hit their targets and others may roll over everything in the way.

[cmc]

It is too bad that Salazar couldn't see this coming a long time ago. How did he not know that brown folks had to sell their soul if they wanted to work for George Bush and be successful. Heck, white folks have to sell their soul too, but now it looks like the brown folks were just used by their white masters.

Hey Ken, take a look at a GOP presidential debate- notice anything?
If you don't think this is where our country should be right now, then maybe you ought to think about joining the progressive side of the party.

[Dismayed]

If I'm not mistaken, isn't it the Patriot Act that give Bush the right to do these damned recess appointments? Trying to remember, when was the Pissondemocracy Act reauthorized and when does it expire. Time to let that bad idea go the way of the Dodo.

Also, I had a friend today suggest that the Patriot Act was in the process of being authored before 9-11. Has anyone else heard that or is my young liberal friend a crackpot? It would seem to fit since I still don't buy that third trade center building coming down into a perfect pile all by itself.

[mamayaga]

It seems the warantless spying "legal basis" and the direct role of Bush in the Hospital Ambush is not catching fire with the Dems in DC. Wonder why?

Once again we little people stand here flabbergasted, not only at the clear and overt lawlessness of the so-called leader of the free world, but equally, jaw-droppingly, amazed that our elected reps, who are among the chief victims of these crimes, seem intent on holding their fire until the whole stampede has passed on by. It's become an almost daily ritual: Bushco does something we never thought we'd see an American politician do and get away with, and instead of the political firestorm that would have come down in what was once known as reality, we get these tentative little yips at best.

The whoredom of corporate media explains only a part of this. Blue-Dog-DLC-insider consultants can no longer account for it. In light of the complete sea change in public opinion in the past 2.5 years, there is ample cover for any Dem to go as far over the top as his/her outrage demands. In fact, the people appear to demand it. But instead of fire and brimstone and calls for Chimpy's head on a pike there are little sputters and very measured, very small steps that won't get us more than halfway to justice before the clock runs out.

Over at FDL looseheadprop suggests that the Dems are approaching this business as a sniper would, waiting patiently to get off the one good shot. That's a hopeful thought, but I'd like to propose a more sinister one. Many commenters speculating on what was so heinous about the mystery domestic spying program that even Ashcroft wouldn't sign off on it have suggested that Chimpy, Rove, et al were spying on political opponents. There is no reason to think this gang would even slow down for that. They have probably been scooping up info on Dems (and journalists) for years. My question is, what have they been doing with that info? We have certain precedents. Consider:

* J. Edgar Hoover had no compumction about blackmailing political opponents with information the FBI had collected.

* Nixon's bad boys burglarized the office of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist. Whatever information they wanted was not intended to be used to plot electoral strategy -- it was certainly intended to smear and/or blackmail Ellsberg.

* Chimpy's bad boys have no compunction about using any information whatsover -- including the fictious (Swiftboat Liars, everything about Iraq) and sensitive national security information (Plame's identity) -- for political advantage.

Is it unreasonable to assume that the mystery spying program has turned up a hoard of information that certain Dems can't afford to have aired, and that that information is being used to keep the opposition satisfactorily defanged?

[bmaz]

Patriot Act provision is not connected to Congressional recesses, and only applies to US Attorneys. Pretty much all of the individual provisions that, combined, constitute the Patriot Act were drafted and on law enforcement and neocon "wish lists", but were not necessarily likely to get passed prior to 9/11. 9/11 happens and Presto, here we are.

[desertwind]

Karma. It's a bitch.

[Quzi]

EW,

Where you aware that Salazar introduced a bill in relation to the US Attorney situation. It's titled, “The Furthering Independence of Federal Prosecutors Act,” that makes coercion a crime punishable by up to one year in jail or a fine of up to $50,000 or both.

From Salazar's press release in March 2007:

Salazar continued, “My bill would simply make it a crime to coerce, pressure, or attempt to influence a U.S. Attorney’s decision whether to commence the investigation or prosecution of a person based on that person’s race, religion, sex, national origin, political activities, or political beliefs..."

http://salazar.senate.gov/news/releases/070320jud.htm

Maybe he is serious about throwing Gonzo out? I'm not sure, I'm just now learning about him myself.

[lukery]

mamayaga: J. Edgar Hoover had no compumction about blackmailing political opponents with information the FBI had collected.
the thing is, the current bunch of thugs was/is using FBI-collected info to blackmail their friends as well. Hastert being a prime example, as per Sibel Edmonds. Recently released documents show that they conjured up excuses to get FISA warrants so that they could illegally spy on "high-profile U.S. public officials."

[Jodi]

There is a lot of posturing! Politics as usual.

I expect that Alberto will be here for some time to come.

[mamayaga]

Thanks for the link, lukery. As William Weaver says in the article, "Through illegal surveillance members of Congress and other officials may be controlled by the executive branch, thereby dissolving the matrix of our democracy."

We are all counting on checks and balances to save us from Americofascism, but those checks may have been severely undercut. If domestic spying has been used to control politicians of both parties, it could explain why even a wingnut like Ashcroft was so spooked.

And, Idjo, you'd have to be extraordinarily cynical to think this is politics as usual. Unless, of course, you think it is fit and proper for the government of the U.S. to be essentially a criminal enterprise.

[oldtree]

I think that Salazar's comments show him unfit to be a representative of an honest electorate. He notes his dishonesty. He is only now upset with this turd? The last several years of criminal activity only add up to a problem now.
what kind of a country is this now? Decorum allows criminal activity. It must end.

[Davis. X. Machina]

We always refer to the senator as Ken "Nighthorse" Salazar, after another great Colorado Democrat....

[TiredFed]

woo hoo. so Allard wasnt a total loss after all. sweet.

[Flamethrower]

Salazar got punk'd by Rove (who else?) into supporting Gonzo in the first place. The execution memos should have been enough for Salazar to stay clear of his "friend". But he wanted some bipartisan boni fides, which are as worthless as the bullshit they're based on.