Alberto Gonzales resigns…and then there were none!

In my August 14 commentary on the resignation of President Bush’s political guru, Karl Rove, here’s the passing reference I made to the ongoing vigil over his Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales:

Therefore, no one was surprised yesterday when a politically battered and bruised Gonzales limped up to the microphone at the Department of Justice to finally announce his resignation (effective September 16). Especially since Bush clearly telegraphed his pending doom when he went out of his way a few weeks ago to express confidence in and support for Gonzales’ performance as attorney general.(After all, such expressions of confidence and support are Bush’s patented famous last word – as everyone from former FEMA Director Mike Brown to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld can attest.)

But, over the past year, Gonzales has been subjected to such bipartisan assaults on his personal integrity and professional competence that his resignation will be tantamount to an ignominious surrender. Indeed, no Washington politician has had to endure such sustained and determined calls for his resignation since President Richard Nixon was forced to resign three decades ago.

(It is ironic that, although charges for many other high crimes and misdemeanors were looming against Nixon, the principled resignation of then Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson, when Nixon instructed him to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox – who was investigating the Watergate scandal, was arguably the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.)

At any rate, this is not to say that calls for Gonzales to resign were not warranted. In fact, when FBI Director Robert S. Mueller leaked damning personal notes about Gonzales to the media on August 16, it was indisputably the straw that broke the camel’s back in this regard. Because those notes fostered near-unanimous suspicion in Washington that Gonzales had lied under oath about his role in the firing of those federal prosecutors.

Even more damning, however, they also suggested that he may have perjured himself when he testified in Congressional hearings about his role ( as White House counsel three years ago) in seeking authorization for Bush’s controversial wiretapping program. Because Mueller’s notes indicate that Gonzales:

Nevertheless, where I reveled in the political comeuppance of other members of Bush’s Texas posse, I feel genuine sympathy for Gonzales. And this, notwithstanding my unease about his Lilliputian cord of obligation to Bush, which evidently made it impossible for him to comport his behavior to serve as US Attorney General after serving as (Bush’s) White House Counsel. Indeed, I readily concede that my sympathy emanates more from my proud solidarity with his humble background than from any regard for his job performance.But only a Yellow Dog Democrat could not be saddened by the rise and fall of Alberto Gonzales. After all, when Bush appointed him two and a half years ago, this son of immigrant farmers was duly heralded as the first Hispanic Attorney General of the United States.

And at that time, his resume, which includes a law degree from Harvard University and service on the Supreme Court of Texas, precluded rabid critics, like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), from dismissing him as just another beneficiary of Bush’s trademark cronyism – as they did in squashing Bush’s nomination of another member of his Texas posse, Harriet Myers, to the US Supreme Court two years ago.

But, despite the dark clouds that descended upon his political career yesterday, the silver lining of Gonzales’ meek, but unbowed character shone through when he uttered the following as part of his statement of resignation:

NOTE: After Bush went out of his way last week to express confidence in and support for Iraqi PM Nouri Maliki’s leadership, I felt obliged to warn al-Maliki that he had just become the latest victim of Bush’s famous last words. Accordingly, I advised him to start packing….Related Articles:
Belated (and overrated) resignation of Karl Rove
The doomed nomination of Harriet Myers
Rumsfeld becomes a casualty of Iraq war

Alberto Gonzalez resignation