<< Perhaps the best one can say about Alberto Gonzales is that he sees himself as a steward of the president's excellence. Cast such a man as attorney general, the highest officer of the law of the United States, and _the visible touch of servility will naturally expose him to ridicule as a toady._ The sadder truth is that Gonzales underrated the dignity of his job. >>
It seems highly improbable that Gonzales will now come into the courage and clarity that would allow him to press his resignation into the president's hand with conviction. He will try to stay on, because the president wants him to. In the days to come, THERE WILL HAVE TO BE ACTS of CIVIC COURAGE by others; actions like those of Senators Byrd and Feingold in earlier moments of constitutional resistance to this anti-constitutional administration. And some of that courage will have to be shown by lawyers. >>
[That is, to remove the injurious, incompetent, and most probably perjurous Alberto Gonzales from office as Attorney General, the highest law enforcement officer of the land.]
----------------------------------------
The Honor of Alberto Gonzales
by David Bromwich
04.19.2007
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/the-honor-of-alberto-gonz_b_46322.html
The fundamental character of George W. Bush is that of a serious prankster: the backslapping good fellow who gives, not receives, the slaps. One saw this confirmed once more in the slight slump of the shoulders of the man who has been on the other end of so much of the president's fraternal good will over so many years.
Perhaps the best one can say about Alberto Gonzales is that he sees himself as a steward of the president's excellence. Cast such a man as attorney general, the highest officer of the law of the United States, and the visible touch of servility will naturally expose him to ridicule as a toady. The sadder truth is that Gonzales underrated the dignity of his job.
As he understands his position, he is essentially an emanation of the will of the president. And our boyish president never developed morally (he developed religiously, but that is not the same thing) beyond the aristocratic reprobate who divides the world into friends and enemies and who thinks the rules don't apply to him. But laws, too, are rules. The doctrine that the chief executive is above the law, that everything he says becomes law as soon as he says it, was hammered out by Gonzales with the help of ingenious assistants recently out of law school. There is no transgression, provided only that the president be the transgressor, which this doctrine will not lower itself to justify.
Exposed today, and in disgrace, with the personal marks of George W. Bush and Karl Rove visible all over his conduct and in the design of his discovered and probable actions -- casual contempt for professional merit, indifference to proved ability, and the belief that genuine competence may be punished when not leavened by performances of truckling loyalty -- Gonzales pleaded for a second chance. (He meant a third or a fourth chance.) The note of insistence was plangent, almost pitiable, but it meant less than it said. All honor has been unreal to Gonzales except the honor of serving the person and will of George Bush.
As Senator Schumer brought out plainly, the attorney general now finds himself trapped by a pair of excuses which effectively prevent his emergence with credit. If he didn't take part in the decisions to fire the U.S. attorneys, the Justice Department is out of control and he shouldn't be attorney general. If he did know about and actually supervised the firings, he has been lying about his ignorance for weeks and he shouldn't be attorney general.
It seems highly improbable that Gonzales will now come into the courage and clarity that would allow him to press his resignation into the president's hand with conviction. He will try to stay on, because the president wants him to. In the days to come, there will have to be acts of civic courage by others; actions like those of Senators Byrd and Feingold in earlier moments of constitutional resistance to this anti-constitutional administration. And some of that courage will have to be shown by lawyers.
