Editorial Pages Call for Axing Attorney General

From Editor and Publisher courtesy of AlterNet:

The New York Times got the editorial ball rolling on Monday, calling for the firing of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales due largely, if not completely, to the burgeoning scandal involving the forced departure of eight U.S. attorneys. Now the notion has spread across the country.

"We haven't seen a renegade U.S. Justice Department like this since John Mitchell ran it for President Nixon," declared the Sacremento Bee. "With a new Congress beginning to exercise serious oversight, the problems at the Justice Department and with its leader, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, are becoming clearer by the day. And what is becoming most clear is that Gonzales must go."

And

The Financial Times weighed in: "Mr. Gonzales had every right to sack prosecutors, who are political appointees. But he had no right to mislead Congress about why he did so – even though he is now blaming lower officals for the misinformation. Mr Gonzales has shown a disdain for Congress and the rights of the American people. He has amply proved that he will never be anything other than Mr Bush’s lawyer – a mere apologist for the imperial presidency. The affair has already claimed one top scalp at the justice department. It is high time Mr Gonzales stepped down too."

The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky. urged President Bush to take two steps: "First, he should fire Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Whether Mr. Gonzales is the instigator of this travesty or merely the unprincipled executor of White House political demands, this debacle is further evidence of his insuitability for his critically sensitive post.

"Then, the president can answer this question: If the eight prosecutors were dismissed for failing to respond to Republican political concerns, can Americans assume that his other U.S. attorneys do fulfill a partisan agenda?"

Click here for much more.

Of course, to me, the real scandal is that Gonzales' nomination was ratified by the Senate in the first place. Granted, it was a Republican Senate at the time, but old "Waterboard" Gonzales' sleaze was obvious to all, even then: he was the guy behind establishing the bullshit "legal" rationale in support of our torturing POWs. Approving his nomination was ill-considered, to say the least. And don't get me going on the Democrats who should have filibustered with their balls-to-the-walls. Really, this is utterly shameful; the White House shouldn't be the only federal institution to get the blame for Gonzales.

And as for his clear obstruction of justice, by pressuring supposedly independent federal prosecutors to end corruption investigations of Republican lawmakers, which is a crime punishible by jail time, what was the Senate expecting? That's been Bush's modus operandi for years, and everyone knows it. The only way our more "deliberative" legislative body can make up for their extreme fuck-up is beg the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against Gonzales and pray that they get to put that fucker on trial.

Then they should go for Bush.

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