MSN is reporting that attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, is going to resign effective September 17Th. This is on the heels of the resignation of Karl Rove another man who seemed to be an integral part of the Bush Machine. My first reaction was that they were trying to get away from the train wreck that is the Bush presidency, after all who wants to be part of an administration that lost a war to Iraq. When you think about it a little more closely neither of these guys seem to have enough self awareness to know when they should be embarrassed(I am sure everyone has seen the video of Rove trying to rap) so why did they resign?
My guess would be that it is much easier to plead the 5Th when you no longer work for the government, and that is what we are probably going to see when these two testify before congress, regarding the US attorney firings. Improperly firing a bunch of republican appointees who know the law was probably a bad idea. The main reason these attorneys were fired seems to be that they refused to file bogus voter fraud charges in the 2006 elections and thus certain people (specifically Rove and Gonzales, and probably Bush) blamed them for the republican losses in 2006. I am not an attorney, but I would guess trying to use the justice department to influence elections is probably a crime, and Rove and Gonzales might be wise to concentrate on their legal defense and leave screwing up the country to other guys.
Updat from CNN:
Schumer and several congressional Democrats have asked for a special counsel to investigate Gonzales’ involvement in what has been charged to be the politically motivated firings of several U.S. attorneys and a controversial government no-warrant wiretapping program.
Senior Justice Department officials say Gonzales’ resignation is not expected to affect the scope or pace of an ongoing internal investigation into the firing of the U.S. attorneys and other issues.
“Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Monday. “He lacked independence, he lacked judgment, and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove.” Rove, another longtime Bush official and his top political adviser, also resigned this month.
“This resignation is not the end of the story,” Reid warned. “Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.” In a statement, Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said Gonzales was responsible for a “severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence.”
Leahy called the experience “a lesson to those in the future who hold these high offices, so that law enforcement is never subverted in this way again.”
1. (YoungTurks) The Rove and Gonzales Resignations Are Tied Together
2. (Harpers) The Gonzometer Moves to “Gone”