Alberto R. Gonzales, the 52 year old cartoon like Attorney General of the United States since February 3, 2005 has been fired/resigned effective September 17, 2007. Gonzales came into a perverse prominence primarily due to his role, or more likely lack thereof, in the firings of eight U.S. State Attorneys in December of last year. In the subsequent months to follow, Gonzales mostly through his own painful attempts to explain his actions, became a national laughingstock. He personally was relegated to a punchline for bad jokes, but in a serious vein, brought great shame to the position of chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America.
The office of the Attorney General is a presidential appointee. Unlike other appointees however, the AG must walk a fine line in dividing his/her loyalty to the president and enforcing US Justice Department policies. It seemed to most observers, Gonzales was unable to articulate and clearly explain his policies because they weren't his policies at all. Gonzales came across as a patsy, a fall guy for the more sinister puppet masters pulling his strings deep within the bowels of the White House.
Let's look at just a few of Gonzales' highlights since his appointment. In early December of 2006, the White House announced that eight US Attorneys were asked to resign. In other words, they were FIRED. It's been well documented that these attorneys are political appointees and serve at the pleasure of the president. Nobody is suggesting for one second that Gonzales actually sat down and carefully reviewed the work of all 93 US Attorneys before selecting 8 to be terminated. However, Gonzales in his role of AG, was the man held responsible. Ironically, at least six of the eight fired attorneys had positive internal Justice Department performance reports. This White House loathes telling the truth, but the simple truth is that these US Attorneys were fired for not "playing ball" the way they were expected to. The pleasure of the president in this case was for these attorneys to be puppets of the White House via Gonzales, the same way Gonzales was a puppet of the White House. Eight of ninety-three US Attorneys refused to capitulate, eight were fired.
Next, the warrantless domestic eavesdropping program. According to May 15, 2007 testimony by the former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey, to the Senate Judiciary Committee as reported in the New York Times on the evening of March 10, 2004, Mr. Gonzales and Andrew H. Card, former Bush chief of staff, tried to usurp his authority by secretly visiting Mr. Ashcroft in the ICU section of a Washington, DC hospital. Mr. Ashcroft had transferred his powers of AG to Mr Comey prior to his emergency gall bladder surgery. The sole purpose of this clandestine, middle of the night visit was to reauthorize the secret wiretapping program, which Comey, the acting AG, had refused to reauthorize. Mr. Ashcroft was extremely ill and disoriented, according to Mr. Comey. In fact, Ashcroft was so physically and mentally incapacitated, his wife had strictly forbidden any visitors.
Perhaps the true essence of Alberto Gonzales would be best exposed in his recent testimony before the US Senate. Gonzales appeared to be unable to recall anything in his lifetime besides his name, rank and serial number. He consistently responded to virtually every question fired at him with the standard, "I don't recall that, Senator." The chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America, reduced to being a common liar, perjuring himself before the US Senate. Just another ignominious chapter in the sad history of this corrupt administration. As I stated earlier, Gonzales was just a pawn of his best friend, George W. Bush. He was a minor player in a corrupt, evil chain of twisted command that will forever be the symbol of this despicable administration.
Alberto Gonzales is basically a harmless puppet. He made no decisions of his own. He was the perfect mild mannered, manipulated dupe on 24 hour call to perform his master's biddings. I doubt Gonzales was even capable anymore of being able to ad lib gas at a bean eating contest . The AG was there to do what he was told, not to be a thinker. He was told basically to sign your name right here without even reading what he was signing. As always, these scenarios eventually blow up in the administration's face. When the smoke cleared, there was Alberto Gonzales holding the match. The powers that be told him what to sign, what to say and what to deny. However, they never told him what to do. They told him to lie before Congress, to not recall whatever he was asked and keep Bush, et al out of it. However they never told the attorney how to defend himself. When you allow yourself to be treated like a dope, let's face it, you're a dope. To quote NY Senator Charles Schumer, "let's hope the next Attorney General is the best person and not the best friend."
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