Political Bloviation

Here’s a round-up of local and national editorials about the unlamented exit of Gonzo. The Washington Times is the only one I saw that talked about his “accomplishments” and believes that he was unfairly treated by Congressional Democrats. Par for the course for big fans of warrantless wire tapping, eliminating habeus corpus and torture. More below the fold…

The House Lawyer Departs - New York Times
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has finally done something important to advance the cause of justice. He has resigned. But his departure alone cannot remove the dark cloud that hangs over the Justice Department. President Bush needs to choose a new attorney general of unquestioned integrity who would work to make the department worthy of its name again — and provide the mandate to do it. Congress needs to continue to investigate the many scandals Mr. Gonzales leaves behind.

An Unlamented Exit - Washington Post
From the start, Alberto Gonzales was the wrong man for the job.
HIS STATEMENT was as brief as it was bland. No mea culpa, no explanation, only the barest of facts. It was, in short, an exit befitting Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.

Gonzales resigns - Washington Times

In the end, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could not quiet the storm against him, and he resigned. The resignation makes sense for a number of reasons, first to limit the damage wrought by the toxic political atmosphere created by Democrats when Mr. Gonzales did not explain with precision or consistency the reasons why he fired several U.S. attorneys. The apparent contradictions between Mr. Gonzales’ version of events and what others have said invited an unusually strong response from those spoiling for a fight with someone, anyone, close to President Bush. He further invited criticism from usually sympathetic Republicans. His resignation was inevitable..

…Mr. Gonzales, who also served on the Texas Supreme Court, was never popular among conservatives, but any fair assessment of his legacy must take into account his accomplishments. Among these was his constancy in the fight against terrorism, on issues ranging from detainees of terrorists to electronic surveillance. As historians study this period and others debate the merits of the president’s policies looking forward, it’s clear that Mr. Gonzales, flawed like we all are, stood with a handful of others in defense of the president’s war policies. Everyone knew where he stood.

Mr. Gonzales deserves further credit for his work in the confirmation of the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, which ranks as one of two or three signal achievements of the Bush administration.
Now that he is departing, Democrats will use the confirmation hearings of his successor, if there is one, as another prime opportunity for battle. Some will be tempted to imagine that his departure will mark the clearing of the clouds of toxicity that have wrapped Washington in their embrace. Fat chance.

It was always all about Al - LA Times
Farewell to one of the most self-absorbed attorneys general ever, who should have resigned long ago.
‘Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father’s best days.”

One doesn’t want to begrudge Alberto Gonzales a brief, self-indulgent moment of mawkishness as he ignominiously departs the public stage. But one of his main problems was that mawkish self-indulgence was often his defining contribution to the public debate.

To the bitter end, Gonzales remained the most self-involved attorney general in modern memory. (Full disclosure: My wife worked for Gonzales and his predecessor.) Gonzales liked to give speeches — even after he left the White House for the Department of Justice — about what a great country this is that it would let a man like him drive through the White House gates. He liked to complain about how hard his job was, and he defined that job first, last and always as being the president’s man. Oh, and he mentioned that he was the grandchild of immigrants, by my rough calculation, 12 trillion times.

Editorial: Resignation of Alberto Gonzales overdue - NewsDay
He had to go. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who announced his resignation yesterday, was painfully unsuited to be the nation’s top law enforcement official. He had too little respect for the truth, the rule of law and the Constitution. And he was loyal to a fault, to his patron and friend, President George W. Bush.

Gonzales was Bush’s enabler. When he should have provided principled counsel on the requirements of the law and the Constitution, he instead fashioned rationalizations for torture, indefinite detention and warrantless wiretaps.

When it appeared that the administration fired eight United States attorneys it judged insufficiently partisan in selecting targets for prosecution, Gonzales fronted a clumsy cover-up. His evasive, shifting explanations for the firings - sprinkled with convenient memory lapses and a stunning lack of accountability - left even many congressional Republicans exasperated with his artless dodges.

Gonzales made justice the servant of politics - St Pete Times

President Bush has it backward. In announcing his acceptance of Alberto Gonzales’ resignation, Bush complained his attorney general’s “good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.” Actually, it was Gonzales who tarnished the reputation of the Justice Department by subordinating the interests of justice to the service of politics. During his 2 1/2 years as attorney general, Gonzales was never more than Bush’s lawyer. He demonstrated that narrower agenda nearly every time he came before Congress with his half-truths, convenient memory lapses and obfuscations. The question was not whether he should resign but if he and the president ever would acknowledge the obvious and give in.

Bush’s regret at seeing his old friend and loyalist go is understandable. Gonzales, first as White House counsel and then as attorney general, couldn’t seem to deny his patron anything.

When the Geneva Conventions got in the way of treating prisoners harshly, Gonzales declared the international treaty “quaint” and “obsolete.” He then helped pull together legal arguments for the defense of torture.

When the president expunged due process rights for Americans declared enemy combatants, Gonzales championed that view.

When the White House wanted a program of warrantless domestic wiretapping continued despite legal objections by the Justice Department, Gonzales went to the hospital bed of the ailing John Ashcroft, then attorney general, to try and wangle approval.

When the White House wanted certain U.S. attorneys fired apparently because they weren’t using their office in a sufficiently partisan manner, Gonzales carried out the plan. Then he downplayed his role to Congress even as other Justice Department officials contradicted his version of events.

Gonzales never seemed to grasp the responsibilities of his office or demonstrate the intellectual heft for the job. His questionable competence combined with his politicization of the department demoralized many of the fine career professionals who worked there. Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the department “close to being dysfunctional.”

It’s Past Time For Gonzales To Go - Tampa Tribune
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned Monday, surprising many in Washington who had long wanted him gone.

The president expressed reluctance in accepting his old friend’s departure - he leaves Sept. 17 - yet he must feel some relief that his attorney general and confidante knew it was time to go.

Gonzales, the nation’s top Hispanic official, had become a political liability. He leaves Washington with little support outside the White House. Criticism of his behind-the-scenes leadership in the war on terror and his management of the Justice Department is well-earned.

Gonzales fed the impression that he politicized the Justice Department. Accused of firing eight U.S. attorneys for political purposes, he appeared before congressional committees on several occasions only to offer half-baked, inept explanations. As the top law enforcement officer in the United States, he displayed a poor memory and an inability to recall details.

While President Bush had every right to fire any prosecutor, Gonzales’ crude explanations made the decisions seem driven solely by election-season politics, rather than performance issues.

The Democrats have had fun with the attorney general, calling him everything from disingenuous to incompetent - and those are the nice adjectives.

But Gonzales’ sorry public performance has turned even the president’s supporters against him.

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