Whatever Abu G did, whatever he signed off on, whatever Constitutional restraint he ruled was “quaint,” that’s the reason Bush is keeping him on.
(Loyalty with the Bush clan is famously one-way; if Bush felt he could throw ABu G under a bus, he would, just like with Rummy. So the question becomes, why doesn’t he?)
The Globe’s Peter S. Canellos:
But the administration’s willingness to withstand its own party’s disdain for Gonzales probably springs not from loyalty but from self-interest: The last thing the president needs right now is confirmation hearings for a new attorney general.
It’s well known that the administration is seeking to maximize its own powers. This effort takes many forms, from asserting the right to bypass laws that Bush himself has signed, to asserting the authority to hold prisoners without trials, to forbidding Congress from seeing information the administration deems sensitive to national security, to asserting its own, highly debatable interpretations of the Geneva Conventions.
There may well be other, similar claims of power that the public does not know about, leading to secret actions that the president believes are justified through his authority as commander in chief.
Just… Eesh. This is the best explanation for keeping Gonzo on that I’ve heard so far. And since the Globe is the paper that broke the signing statements story, and got Pulitzer for it, p0wning the Times, I give them some credence in this area.
he key determinations of what the administration can and cannot do are made by the Justice
Department, whose Office of Legal Counsel passes judgment on questions of presidential power.
Since so much depends on favorable rulings from Justice, the administration can’t possibly look forward to having to justify its actions to a new team of lawyers. But that’s almost certain to happen if Gonzales is replaced by someone outside Bush’s inner circle.
Bingo. Bush simply can’t afford to let anybody not already implicated in his criminal actions get a close look at what’s going on; even a Reagan Republican would be horrified.
So, there is no way Bush will ever bend. He has to be broken. This is what the Beltway 500 advocates of Compromise and teh Moderate don’t understand—or wilfully misunderstand.
Bush has to be broken. If—how I wish I could say when—the break happens, it will happen suddenly and all at once. They are that fragile. But until then, the resistance will be total and massive. Think Nazis defending Hitler’s bunker.
NOTE Via, as usual, The Amazing Froomkin, to whom we bow in awe.
Front page
I think you are right
Bush won’t finish his term, it will be like Argentina, when it collapses it will all go at once
Naw, Abu Al is strictly an outer wall
The Bushco regime is set up like a military encampment.
You have the pickets out on perimeter patrol—the enablers, Cabinet employees below the rank of actual Secretaries, WH staffers of expendable level, (the Monica Goodlings, Steven Giles’, etc.) Pro-war military is essentially on this line too—those who waver (Shinseiki) or cause embarrassment (Gen. Janet whatsername, “commander” of Abu Graib: disposable to protect those of higher value.)
Then you have the first actual line of defense in R. house reps. The next line is R. senators. These two lines are defended as long as reasonably possible provided they toe the line with sufficient vigor. Defense in thise case consists of funnelling VRWC
money and lobbyist’ efforts to their reelections, then support roles in said VRWC for loyalists who somehow manage to lose anyway (c.f. Santorum, DeLay etc.)
All of this is for the purpose of defending the Made Men. Their particular Green Zone consists of the Usual Suspects: Cheney, Rove, Bush, and most especially Enabler Abu Al who fulfils the scenario Nixon could only dream of wherein “if the President does it, it’s legal.” With Al around to lay down covering fire for every bit of crookedness Cannellos cites in his story, what more do they really need?
But the thing is they need all of what they have now to cover all the bases. I honestly can’t see any circumstance which would cause or allow them to dump him even if he wanted to go. Congressional Republicans are infuriated that he’s harming the party? So fucking what? What are they gonna do about it?
But the essence of it is that to allow anybody to force Al out would be to remove a vital layer of protection. Bush has said this in enough leaks it’s clear he knows it: “If I give them Gonzales then they’ll just come after Rove.” Which of course we will, and are.
Gonzales is just a distraction really. Leave him right where he is, a withered booger hanging from the Presidential nose everywhere he goes, everytime he speaks.
Gonzales has been cleaning up for decades
Gonzo mopped up after Chimpy’s DUI, lied to get him off jury duty (where he’d have to swear to a criminal or drug past under oath) and scrubbed clean the whole AWOL mess that allowed his sack of crap master to prance around in military drag.
Who better to know where a lot of shit is buried than the Prez’s personal pooper scooper? These hoods are going to ride out the next 18 months by stonewalling, being non-responsive, losing documents and smirking as Dems sputter out yet more non-binding paper. Four more years of dictatorship is just another stolen election away.
Why change tactics when the Dems leadership reliably toss their most skeptical, effective attackers under the bus as “conspiracy theorists” and “special interests” that enrage the GOP meanies — who’d be nice and cooperative otherwise?