Monday, August 27, 2007

Gonzo Bids Adieu

A satisfying way to begin the day: Alberto Gonzales' resignation. Yet I remain ambivilent; as when Ari Fleischer stepped down, the Dems lose an unpopular figure to kick around. Since this is analysis-proof (what're you gonna say?), here's a smattering of the reax from around the right-o-sphere, where unintentional irony and delusion are the order of the day:

Hindrocket/Powerline
"Gonzales's only real offense seems to have been mediocrity. But mediocrity in an Attorney General is nothing new (think Janet Reno), and any blame for this occurrence properly attaches to the White House."

Robert Bork
The price to America of driving Alberto Gonzales from office, if such a scenario unfolds, will be heightened polarization and peril.

Kathryn Jean Lopez, NRO
Gonzales is now available for a SCOTUS nomination.
[An unintentionally funny righty makes an intentional (and funny) joke.]
President Bush
"Al Gonzales is a man of integrity, decency and principle. ...After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position and I accept his decision. It's sad that ... his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons."
[Words fail.]
Protein Wisdom
"In other words, after having smeared a man into ruin, I knew the left would turn around and immediately affect a conciliatory tone, and press the President to join them in their sudden need to raise the level of discourse."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
"I thank Alberto Gonzales for his public service and wish him well in his future endeavors. It is my hope that whomever President Bush selects as the next attorney general, he or she is not subjected to the same poisonous partisanship that we've sadly grown accustomed to over the past eight months."
[Almost cosmically ironic.]
Captain's Quarters
A lot of politicians have accused Gonzales of crimes without providing any evidence, and in the end, they couldn't find any even with unfettered room to conduct investigations for half a year. The Democrats have wound up empty on both investigations and legislation, and now they have little to show for the first half of this session.
[Not true. The Times actually ran a piece yesterday documenting the number of laws passed in this session--it far outweighs the previous, GOP-led Congress. But I digress.]
Orrin Hatch
"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."
[Yes, that's exactly what they're remember him for.]
Brit Hume
“He was a man almost without fans in Washington…he was, simply, a crony.”

2 comments:

student x said...

Funny you missed this, also from my post:

"Gonzales had a tin-ear and was a political liability to Bush"

and this:

"Is this more toothless outrage to be followed up by a milquetoast nomination that the Democrats can get behind? Or will Bush stick a thumb in the eyes of those who complain about the “politicization” of politics and put forth the name of a solid legal conservative?

"Likely neither, is my guess. Instead, we’ll get a solid Republican, meaning that the war on drugs and porn can continue uninterrupted — while attempts to pretend illegal immigration is barely even a crime proceed apace, except on those occasions when the Wall Street Journal editorial board or Lindsay Graham stop to point out how conservatives are mostly just racists."

I don't think I was too kind either to Gonzales or to the Bushies. The point in bringing up the smearing was intended to showcase the irony of then turning around and asking the President to "change the tone" and "reach out to Democrats" by, essentially, doing as they demand.

I find that funny. You might not.

Jeff Alworth said...

For those of you who don't frequent the right-o-sphere, the comment above comes from Protein Wisdom.