Has the Firewall Cracked?
I was about to write my blog this morning on a washingtonpost.com report detailing “How Rove Directed Federal Assets for GOP Gains.” Before I got started, I got the news flash that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is resigning. Obviously, Rove will have to wait.
So ends the reign of the most incompetent attorney general in history – a view that is not mine alone but held by many prominent Republicans and conservatives as well. Gonzales has done serious damage to the U.S. system of justice and, through his condoning torture, seriously damaged America’s reputation throughout the world.
It ought to be interesting – to say the least – what will happen now that President Bush doesn’t have his shield to protect all the abuses of this administration from congressional inquiry. To contemplate the future, it’s worth repeating what I wrote in a blog on August 8.
In a commentary in Time magazine, Massimo Calabresi detailed some of the reasons Bush was bucking all the calls for Gonzales’s resignation.
First, Calabresi writes, “Gonzales is all that stands between the White House and special prosecutors.”
“Without Gonzales at the helm, the Justice Department would be more likely to approve requests for investigations into White House activities on everything from misuse of prewar Iraq intelligence to allegations of political interference in tobacco litigation. And the DOJ could be less likely to block contempt charges against former White House aides who have refused to testify before Congress.”
Secondly, Calabresi asserts “A post-Gonzales DOJ would be in the hands of a nonpartisan, tough prosecutor, not a political hand.”
“Newly appointed Deputy Attorney General Craig Morford is in line to take over until a new Attorney General could be confirmed. Morford, a 20-year veteran … is in the mold of James Comey, the former Deputy Attorney General who stood up to the White House over its domestic-eavesdropping program. … Over the past six months, more than half a dozen top political appointees have left the department amid scandal. The unprecedented coziness that once existed between the Justice Department and the White House now remains solely in the person of Gonzales.”
The third reason, Calabresi says, is “if Gonzales goes, the White House fears that other losses will follow.”
“Republicans are loath to hand Democrats some high-profile casualties to use in the 2008 campaign. Stonewalling, they believe, is their best way to avoid another election focused on corruption issues.”
And finally, “Nobody at the White House wants the legal bills and headaches that come with being a target of investigations.”
“In backing Gonzales, Bush is influenced by advisers whose future depends on the survival of their political bodyguard. Gonzales remains the last line of defense protecting Bush, Rove and other top White House officials from the personal consequences of litigation.”
As I said at the time, Gonzales is the administration’s fire wall, which will, in the end, protect Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzales himself from the legal consequences of their misdeeds. Now, only time will tell.
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