Good riddance to Mr. Gonzalez
Anthony Collins
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Opinion
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For a beast like Alberto Gonzalez, it demands evidence documenting his corruption in office, blatant judicial misconduct, seven fired U.S. Attorneys and two leaked memorandums linking him directly to everything.
But with all political weapons drawn against him, Gonzalez clung to life like an obstinate tick on the body politic.
Why should he resign? Throughout the whole sordid affair, Gonzalez still maintained support from the executive branch. The last six years have timelessly demonstrated that a sanction, even by a politically ineffective president, could stop an armada -so what could a quorum of Democrats do?
Gonzalez was impervious to the slings and arrows of a partisan roar. He had political immunity. Nothing could harm him so long as he remained within the impenetrable shroud of executive privilege. Refusing every subpoena, Gonzalez could dismiss any political saboteur seeking to undo him.
In his brief but surprisingly tremendous career, Gonzalez was called to answer before the Senate Judicial Committee on three occasions. His disregard for Constitutional law was evident when he once testified, "There is no express grant of habeas corpus in the Constitution" (meaning there is no express right to relief from unlawful detention).
When asked on another occasion what Gonzalez considered the Geneva Convention articles against torture to mean, he responded, "Such articles are obsolete." This, in the face of blatant violations brought on by the war on terror.
But for such an active Attorney General, Gonzalez vowed he was in no way involved when seven U.S. Attorneys were fired at the end of 2006, at least six of whom had within the same year received positive Justice Department
reports.
Coincidently, Gonzalez could remember nothing about the firings - a fact he repeated before the Judicial Committee 71 times during his testimony. In short, he pleaded ignorance and was successful enough to avoid perjury charges.
When brought before the committee on a separate occasion regarding National Security Agency wiretap abuses, Gonzalez again could remember nothing about the reports. The committee report subsequently, "Could not immediately determine whether Alberto Gonzalez had read any of the FBI reports from 2006." Apparently, competence is not mandated.
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