Alberto "I Don't Recall" Gonzales Has Left the Building

When I turned on CNN this morning, news that Alberto Gonzales had resigned was the top story, as it was the rest of the day. I'd read a rumor onTalkingpointsmemo.com yesterday that Alberto's resignation might be happening today, but the crew at TPM made an Alberto-less Justice Department sound like a pretty far out-there rumor. After all Bush is hardheaded and, perhaps, none too bright, so why would he do something that would help him, you know, do his job?

So in that the far-out rumor turned out to be true I was surprised, and that Bush finally let go of the man in whom the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee had lost all confidence I was surprised, but in the end this wasn't the moment I thought I'd been waiting for. Sure, it's good he's gone, but good for Bush. Bush is notorious for putting personal loyalty over the good of the country; he's done that his whole tenure -- but now that he's proven himself willing to cut away some of the stinkier, greener patches of rot from the gangrenous arm that his administration has become (excepting, of course, the biggest and greenest patch he cannot excise, namely himself) by first accepting Rove's resignation earlier this month and today Gonzales' -- Bush is putting himself in a position to actually do something with his last 18 or so months in office. Not that I'm too worried Bush will manage to push something through a Democratic Congress, but I am worried that unencumbered Bush will be able to focus pushing some new policy initiative the Repubs can use to make the crop of Dem candidates for '08 look like either a.) Bush/Cheney Lite, or b.) bumbling Dukakisi. The Republicans may not be able to use the Executive to do anything but govern incompetently and strip civil rights with brutal efficiency, but they sure can use it as a destructive political tool.

I guess in this case, I'll have to content myself that enough evidence was uncovered in the US Attorney Firings Scandal that any reasonable person who decides to read about Gonzales, Alberto or Rove, Karl would conclude that these men committed impeachable crimes. All of that information is in the public record and will follow these "ends justifies the means" kind of guys for the rest of their lives. Even still, it's more than a little deflating that instead of spending well-earned time behind bars, these ethics-free "public" servants get to go out of their jobs hailed as "honest" and "honorable" men by the leader of the free world.