'No Justice Dept. should be White House political arm'

Gee, I wonder if Leaky Leaky and Conyers felt this way when Janet Reno Rambo and Imprisoned Web Hubbell were running the Justice Department?

What the rabid right refuses to admit is that a lot of moderate Republicans who put party before country also know/knew how bad Gonzales is/was for truth, justice and the American way.

Join Rove back on the trail to Texas lil' buddy.

John D.

And what possible bearing does Janet Reno have on Gonzales?

So if Janet Reno robbed the US blind, does that mean that it would be acceptable for every subsequent AG to rob the US blind?

Gonzales is already in trouble for breaking the law where we absolutely are certain, such as the Hatch Act and trying to influence a witness.

Then we have LOTS of other "little" things such as authorizing torture. But don't let those bother you.

Please go back to listening to Rush, so you can call in as a ditto head.

Sadly, John D again rationalizes that past poor judgment justifies continued poor judgment. Bush promised to end business as usual in the White House. By that, I presume he meant an end to cronyism. Well, he hasn't done that. Gonzalez, while a nice bootstraps story, is just another political crony. You cannot justify your own mistakes by pointing to a predecessor and saying, "He did it, too."

This being a Frank James article, the "reactions rolling in" only include the reactions of Democrats.

Since the Swamp won't give Republican reactions, I dug up (in 1 minute) what Sen. Orrin Hatch said:

"Salt Lake City – Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) today issued the following statement on the resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general of the United States.

“Alberto Gonzales has been the President’s strong right arm in fighting terrorists using the tools of law enforcement, and he helped successfully protect the American homeland during his tenure. Beyond that, he has overseen the Department of Justice’s efforts to protect children from Internet predators, to combat human trafficking, and to prevent the spread of meth in our communities.

“I hope that history will remember Attorney General Gonzales for his honorable service to his country, rather than for the absurd political theater to which some critics have subjected him.” "

Chris and Dodjudge, I am not excusing bad behavior, just pointing out hypocrisy and bullfeathers by Leaky Leahy and Conyers.

The only thing Gonzalez is guilty of is letting a nonevent like the removal of 8 so-so U.S. Attorneys become a non-scandal scandal. He mishandled that, no doubt.

As far as the torture thing, that has been overblown by the Left and its friends in the media. But, then I don't care what was done to head-chopping terrorist Kahlied Sheik Mohammed, a 9/11 mastermind and executioner of Daniel Pearl. The more torture done to him, the better. And for that Gonzalez is a great American hero.

Senator Depends a/k/a leaky Leahy sent his I gotcha letter this man is egomaniac that knows no bounds --no laws were broken he just did Chuckie Schumers bidding and Arlen RINO Specter played right along. Albert Gonzales is a nice Hispanic who was treated like dirt with people who have never graduated from Harvard Law School, been Supreme Court Justice in Texas and Texas Secretary of State. I wish Gonzales would have put it to this bunch. And I hope Bush vetoes everything they dream about. Come 08 we'll turn the tables. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

I am not excusing bad behavior..

Posted by: John D | August 27, 2007 2:13 PM

You excuse bad behavior in every post you make, John. And I mean every one.

I am suggesting Ted Nugent as the Republican party symbol. He typifies the right wing character perfectly. My favorite fact about him was when he pissed and crapped his pants for weeks (and wore the pants to his army physical) to earn a deferment from the army.

The more torture done to him, the better. And for that Gonzalez is a great American hero.

Posted by: John D | August 27, 2007 2:13 PM

John D. If you think anyone should be an American hero for approving the torture of ANYONE, doesn't matter how evil, you need to re-examine your soul.

One thing I've observed about you is that 99% of your posts are excusing or advocating bad behavior with other bad behavior. Whether it's Bush's bad behavior excused by Clinton's, Gonzales's excused by Leahy's, or America torturing others advocated because others have beheaded Americans.

You have the moral compass of an psychopath. No principle, all "me" justified by finding the lowest behavior of everyone else as a form of excusing the lowest behavior done by "your side" (in your name). It's a constant lowering of the bar. A constant race to the bottom with you. And you're sure as hell gonna win.

Come 08 we'll turn the tables. Jerry White, Springfield, IL

Posted by: Jerry White | August 27, 2007 4:17 PM

What "we", Jerry? Are you an American or a Republican? Pick one. Because the constant partisan hackery you are droolingly looking forward to is good for one and not the other.

Jerry, with an 18% approval rating and falling I'd say Leahy's comeuppance isn't far off.

And The Swamp forgot to post the second half of his statement, the one that asks hard-working democrats to send him money for "getting" Gonzales, under the guise that he has actually done something rather than preside over the lowest-approval-rated congress in our nation's history.

"Three weeks ago, Justice Department officials settled on a "talking point" to rebut the chorus of Democratic accusations that the Bush administration had wrongly injected politics into law enforcement when it dismissed eight U.S. attorneys.

Why not focus on the Clinton administration's having "fired all 93 U.S. attorneys" when Janet Reno became attorney general in March 1993? The idea was introduced in a memo from a Justice Department spokeswoman.

The message has been effective. What's followed has been a surge of complaints on blogs and talk radio that it was the Clinton administration that first politicized the Justice Department.

The facts, it turns out, are more complicated.

In a March 4 memo titled "Draft Talking Points," Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia Scolinos asked, "The [White House] is under the impression that we did not remove all the Clinton [U.S. attorneys] in 2001 like he did when he took office. Is that true?"

That is mostly true, replied D. Kyle Sampson, then chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. "Clinton fired all Bush [U.S. attorneys] in one fell swoop. We fired all Clinton [U.S. attorneys] but staggered it out more and permitted some to stay on a few months," he said.

A few minutes later, Deputy Atty. Gen. Paul J. McNulty replied to the same memo.

"On the issue of Clinton [U.S. attorneys], we called each one and had them give us a timeframe. Most were gone by late April. In contrast, Clinton [Justice Department] told all but a dozen in early March to be gone immediately," McNulty said.

The difference appears minor. Both McNulty and Sampson acknowledged that the Bush administration, like the Clinton administration, brought in a new slate of U.S. attorneys within a few months of taking office."

http://www.citizensforethics.org/node/25836