Attorney General Gonzales is dead meat. His exit is only a question of time. (I been wrong before, but….)
I think the Senate Dems will not confirm some obvious hatchet man as the replacement for Gonzales. Bush has “benefitted” from two Attorney Generals who were profoundly dishonest and demagogic. No matter what the Bush administration did, they could be counted on to rubberstamp it as legal – or “close enough for government work” legal.
If the next Attorney General is halfway honest and opens the files of what has been done since 2001, even damn moderates will be shocked. There are bombshells waiting to detonate on the torture scandal, on Iraq, and on other dishonest and illegal gross abuses.
This year could be more entertaining politically than I expected.
I look forward to the moment during a press conference when, asked about the surge of Democratic subpoenas, Bush puffs out his chest, stares into the camera, and announces:
BRING ‘EM ON!
Let’s get on with it then.
For an added treat:
Hear Mr. Bovard expound on his theory, not once, but twice!- starting tomorrow, 10A CT on WBAP/DFW (WBAP.com)
and Friday, 12N CT on the ABC Radio Network including the ABC Talk channels on XM and Sirius.
Brian Wilson
Bovard Fan, Libertarian carnivore and moderately capable talk show host,
It will be fun to see what new tricks the Bush apologists learn to whitewash their guy.
Re: Brian Wilson.
“Moderately capable” my ***********
This guy whupped Howard Stern in the morning drive time ratings in New York City.
I’d not count on Gonzales’ removal now or at any time. Are we out of Iraq or willing to frustrate an attack on Iran? Clearly not.
There seems to be some irresistable urge to deny that we’re in a dictatorship, one which sees the Democratic Congress as a savior and not as a constituent part of the Regime. Gonzalez is much too important to the alliance of AIPAC and Christian Zionists for them to give ground here. They can point to him as a kind of father figure when apologetics for torture or wiretapping are under consideration. And if he is canned, he just might run for President with their enthusiastic backing. Gonzalez will always present as a kind of neo-con Hans Frank, a war party hero on the order of a Horst Wessel. He’ll go to his death convinced of his rectitude.
John Lowell
Mr. Bovard,
Sacking Alberto would be a good place to start. One thing bothers me though. Why is it that NOW the Senate thinks he is wrong? OK, he fired some US attornies for “ploitical” reasons. Big deal, it is done by all administrations to some degree or other. I do think it should NOT be the case, but I am certain that going back through history, you will find it to be the case.
The thing is, Alberto should have been stopped when he gave written reports to the Shrub ststing that the Genvea Conventions were “quaint and outdated” ideas that do not apply to the “decider”. That is his BIG crime. For that reason alone he should have been tossed on the scrap heap where he belongs, or, better yet, in jail making little rocks from big rocks.
Just my opinion, this latest mess is small change compared to what he has already done to America and our “standing” in the world.
Impeachment?! The Demorcrats won’t even end the funding for the war, and they’re going to impeach?! What are you somking? The Democrats received a clear mandate victory back in November to end this fiasco; four months later and nothing is done! Forget about impeachment.
“What are you somking?”
Happily, nothing that skews my keyboard.
Didn’t say impeachment was going to happen. I said the odds are rising.
Bush is in the danger zone in his approval ratings. There may be far worse scandals that Americans learn about in the next few months.
Each additional scandal boosts the odds.
Charlie – I agree – Gonzo has done far worse things than this. I discussed his evasions and deceits on torture at length in Attention Deficit Democracy.
But what the hey – I’m happy to see the rascal sweat on his false statements to Congress etc….
While Gonzales (Smirky II) might be sacked (I’d give it only 50/50), absolutely nothing will change. The Dems are testicular free just like the Reps when it comes to AIPAC. Note their decision to abandon the war powers requirement for Smirky to get approval from them prior to any military action on Iran.
And if anyone is going to be impeached and removed from office (as BOTH Smirky or Darth Vader so richly deserve), I’d much prefer that it was Cheney. Who wants Darth Vader for President?! If we’re taking about impeachment without removal from office, I dream of that for both of them. But, even ONE of them being subjected to this is a real long shot.
We have an “attention deficit democracy” (where’d I read that?) where far too many citizens watch Faux “News” for their information and prefer to watch ANSmith coverage instead of coverage of important issues thereby enabling criminals like those in our current executive branch to commit crimes and not only not be punished for them, but to be financially and in other ways rewarded for them!
Bush will not be impeached but will rather decline into political Alzheimer’s. He will melt away with the spring thaw and will be thought of as much as we now think of Millard Fillmore or Zachary Taylor. The Democrats won’t impeach him, as they themselves are too fractious to even mildly challenge him. One by one the Cabinet leaves will fall off the Bush until he looks worse than Linus’ Christmas tree. We need do nothing, since ordure runs downhill.
Which is why Gonzo can’t be allowed to leave. A “real” AG would have no choice but to investigate Bush, Rove, Cheney, Doug Feith, Gonzo, Condi, and the rest.
Biden may have warned about an executive privilege standoff, but that’s exactly what he’s going to get. Gonzo will blame everything on Kyle Sampson, Sampson will take the heat for it and he’s already been fired. The wingnuts will cry foul, the blogs will run red with hate and the end will be Dubya flipping the Dems the bird, saying “come and get me, you don’t have the balls for this.”
And the Dems don’t.
Gonzo isn’t going anywhere for exactly the reasons you specified.
Even worse, this entire issue vanishes the instant Bush attacks Iran. And considering the sheer volume of scandals he’s facing in just the first few months of actual oversight, that attack will have to come very soon.
So, does anybody know where Harriet Miers is?
Maybe I’ve been somkinging too much, but I too would like to see Torche Gonzales get his Medal of Freedom sooner rather than later.
your naivety is touching: the democrats are delighted that bush is arranging things so that hillary can be a yet worse dictator than bush — no democrat in her right mind wants to get rid of a guy who gives them such great bitching material: they have their cake & they eat it too — besides, aipac won’t allow it
All the comments are great. Love the title “Mirky II”. The Democrats lack the unity to kick out George Bush. Too many of them are tied into aipac, and potential lobbyist jobs, especially the military industry.
So, what can be done and be effective? Civil disobedience for starters. Another is work towards not paying income taxes. Without income taxes the government will create fiat money to the point the entire world will say “forgetaboutit”.
The “medal of freedom” for Gonzales is another goody.
The Americans citizens are the one and only body that will scare the living hell out of congress. More aggressive the better.
Hey – naivete has always been my trademark.
I don’t think Bush is in serious impeachment trouble at this moment. But the trendlines for him are far more dangerous than they first appear. The subpoeanas are getting thicker – and each subpoena that results in some explosive disclosure will generate other subpoeanas…
Bush & crew have governed as if no one would ever know what they were up to – at least not while Bush was in office.
Bad move.
Harold Hardrada,
Yes, there’s the rub. It all depends on what’s permitted and Gonzalez is too dependable a figure to experience his disappearance. Would Hitler have countenanced the sacking of Hans Frank at a comparable time? Much the same applies today for Bush, AIPAC and its neo-con operatives.
John Lowell
Jim,
There is a comedy side to this. The neocon liars of talk radio are sounding like the Clinton defenders with their excuse making. “What about Clinton!?” shrieks Boortz, Limbaugh and his bootlick, Hannity. For them only Democrat corruption is worth investigating. I’m happy to say that I am bi-partisan and want to see all of these crooks tossed in Jail no matter what stupid party they belong to.
I hope you heard Charles Goyette talk to that bozo from Brent Bozells’ MRC. Charles was all over him about the stupidity of constantly bringing up Clinton when they get caught up to no good.
Harald Hardrada,
You touched on something that I’m concerned about too. My concern is not that the Democrats lack the fortitude to impeach Gonzo (or the Chimp) but rather that they don’t want to. I feel that they are just putting on enough of a show to fool their followers, and they figure that when Queen Hillary is installed they will revel in all the marvelous powers she has.
They may be thwarted in this plan but that will hardly be any good to us, since it just means that the GOP would remain the slavemaster. It’s getting so I can hardly tell them apart, myself.
I believe some of you are correct about the Democrats not wanting to do anything about Bush. It looks like they would rather hang Bush around the Stupid party’s neck as a cinderblock for the next election.
Kyle Sampson is the tip of the petri dish. Sometime back in his hallowed College Republican days, Secret Karl was rumored to have sent several Gerbers “Pureed Green Peas” jars of his, excuse me, eh…, genetic froth to gut alte B.Y.U.. The underlying reason behind Karl’s rather sordid delivery to the Land of Zion was the establishment of a covert GOP program at this venerable Mormon institution, code named “S.B.U.E.”, acronym for “I wanna be a Sunbeam for the Unitary Executive”. With CIA backing in Neo-Conservative, Capitalist-Socialist Utah, S.B.U.E., or, colloquially “Spew” could embark upon a genetic experiment led by a Doctor Of Forensic Genetics named Heinrich Jensen Smith Jr.who had a fondness for the “Schmoos” of the Lil Abner Cartoon series.
Well, fast forward to today and now we see the perhaps the first evidence of Karl’s Neo-Nerdy Aryan Army of Kafka-esque Unitary Executive Spartans and his name is Kyle Sampson.
If this really is the first graduate trainee, there will be thousands more, jess like the Schmoos and they will be popping up with relentless regularity. They shall be identified by a cult-like devotion to Authority and an extremely bad case of passive aggressiveness fostered by a genetic disposition toward pasty nerdiness enshrined within an awful fashion sense. The silliness of the appearance is part of the ruse. Although the SBUES look innocuous and sunny-dispositioned, they are bloodthirsty operatives capable of naked aggression in service to the State. They are known to sprout invisible tentacles that attach themselves to hidden sources of soft money …said tentacles only visible to the members of the cabal who are trained to look into a hat containing seer stones and a well-worn edition of “The Idiots Guide to Machiavelli’s “the Prince””.
When a pasty faced roly-poly government factotum smiles at you in a manner that is sweet but oddly malevolent, give them a furtive evil eye whilst rotating thrice counterclockwise and muttering “Albert J. Nock” five times. Then , run like hell while throwing away any cash you might have to slow them up a bit. SBUE’s like cash almost as much as they do the Unitary Executive.
This shall be a rough ride folks, stay alert. We are seeing the beginning of the Latter Days whence the establishment of the United States of Utah begins the tribulations of the End Times. Horde liquor and skepticism.
Ryan,
And if anyone accuses you of being cynical, I think you’ll find either that (1) they haven’t lived long enough or (2) that they’re in need of some kind of aggressive purgative.
John Lowell
Has not every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt committed impeachable offenses? The expansion of executive power in the 20th century is a direct consequence of the overall uncontrollable growth of government since the Civil War.
My greatest fear is that Bush and Cheney will be allowed to “run-out the clock” since Bush’s second term is rapidly coming to an end. It would be the greatest unprosecuted crime (against the American people and the World) in history should Bush and Cheney manage to ride-out the remainder of their term without ever having been held accountable for at least some of their SERIOUS CRIMES.
Timothy – Yes, presidents have been going to seed constitutionally for a long time.
But the Bush-Cheney offenses are a quantum leap beyond the desultory norm for the post WWII era.
This is beyond the petty ante partisan politics so many are conditioned to reduce it to.
It is about the rule of law, and the future of our Republic.
The Bush league has been allowed to practice their fear laced cryto-fascist-imperialist statescraft with impunity for so long that it’s now difficult to soberly examine any current aspect of their questionable doings without exposing even more serious goings on from days gone by.
The dems may want to prolong the agony of having a felon-in-chief, so they can seize the office and preserve the presidential ability to break the law (and keep secrets, and grease crony palms) with impunity, but it’s not gonna happen that way.
Watching the Bush league work is like watching a zombie dance ballet. They can’t execute. They make all sorts of high minded plans all the time, but when it comes to executing those plans (not to be confused with the execution of the mickey mouse dictator they made out to be a bogeyman), they simply aren’t up to the task. Nothing they try works. Nothing. They’ve gotta be alarmed as all getout. Lengthy losing streaks suck.
Imagine a world where Iraq is riding the wave of a booming democracy, the citizenry’s burbling about Jefferson’s Federalist Papers in kaffeeklatches on George Bush Blvd in beautiful (and oh so safe) downtown Baghdad. A regular beachhead of democracy. Massive influence on their less free brethren in less enlightened middle eastern states.
If that were the case, would there be any interest in going after Bush and co. for defrauding us into a war of aggression? It would still be fraud, but the fact that it succeeded would reduce those interested in calling foul to a sourpuss fringe element (strict constitionalists, libertarians, wonks).
As it stands, Gonzalez at AG is warding off well deserved criminal indictments. But how many times can he stand being called up to Capital Hill to explain WH goings on? I’ve seen a lot of his appearances. Like his boss, he’s a graceless kinda guy. I’d put the odds of him opening his mouth and shooting himself in the foot at 60% for any given Congressional grilling session.
Congress calling him up 4 more times is about the length of his shelf life.
And if he goes down, the call for an AG that serves the law of the land, rather than the scofflaw in chief, will be strong. I highly doubt that Congress would approve a John Yoo or Jay Bybee kinda nomination. But anything less would certainly mean indictments. What’s a besieged failure law breaker of an administration to do? Can they just leave the office of AG sit empty for the rest of their reign?
/ramble
I don’t think so. I think the Bush team is going to find themselves in a lot more trouble than they expect…
The clock is ticking on a whole heap of Pandora’s Boxes…
“Zombies dancing ballet” – good image. Better than zombies doing Irish step dancing, per St. Pat’s DAy…
I despair for political solutions. If limited government couldn’t survive in this country with its constitutional safeguards, I don’t hold out much hope for it anywhere. However, government doesn’t work and when the Federal Government finally goes belly up and there’s a global repudiation of the dollar, who know’s what will emerge from the rubble. I am reminded that it took the collapse of the Roman Empire for the seeds of liberty to be planted in Europe in the first millenium(political subdivision and competing sovereigns). I don’t think I need to remind you that there is a distinction between the US Government and the American people. When people speak of American power they are usually referring to the Federal Government and its armed might. America’s global military and political presence attracts more enemies that it deters and leaves the taxpayer holding the bill. We currently spend far more on military operations in the Middle East than we spend on imported oil from that region. Only a government would strike that ”bargain.” Anyway, my point is that while a decline in American power abroad will weaken the government, it could the free the American people from burdens of high taxes and inflation that are inevitable with every empire.
The Nigerian uranium documents were declared false by the UN before the US army crossed into Iraq. Since the documents were not produced by Nigeria, I wonder who paid to have them forged?
The US law allowed the use of force only in the case of self defense. Bush-Cheney violated this doctrine