MORE PRESSURE ON GONZALES TO RESIGN-- BUT WILL IT EVEN MATTER?

Although we went to high school together-- James Madison in Brooklyn-- if you read DWT you probably know I haven't been all that enthusiastic about consummate Beltway Insider Chuck Schumer. He may not be as bad as Rahm Emanuel but... well, he may be. On the other hand, I've been scratching my head for the last couple of days and wondering where the rest of the Democratic jerk-offs have been as Schumer has been repeatedly calling on Gonzales to resign.

And sure enough-- here they come. ABC-TV is trumpeting an exclusive: Hillary thinks he should resign too. Go, Hill! On today's "Good Morning America," NY's junior senator endorses the proposal of NY's senior senator. "The buck should stop somewhere and the attorney general-- who still seems to confuse his prior role as the president's personal attorney with his duty to the system of justice and to the entire country-- should resign."

This afternoon, I noticed Dianne Feinstein distancing herself from Schumer on this but then I noticed Kennedy and then Reid agreeing with Schumer. Feinstein can be a real stick in the mud. I'd like to see more Democratic senators pile on and then, sooner or later, a couple of Republicans who want to keep their jobs after next year's election might come forward too. Dependable Regime rubber stamps like James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and Darrell Issa (R-CA) have been making grumbling noises for the folks back home. Sensenbrenner called Gonzales' department "dysfunctional" and Issa, who has taken heat for defending the firing of Lam told PBS yesterday that "if someone led us astray, they should resign, and I don't care how high it is, anyone involved with this coverup of giving us the truth needs to step down... I am including anybody who would mislead, deliberately mislead the Congress... If it's the attorney general who had a hand in it, then he has to step down." Some more of that and it'll be bye-bye, Alberto. Of course, he's still in a state of denial and told the Washington Post that he refuses to do the decent thing and step down. He accepts responsibility but only the nonconsequential Republican kind where nothing happens when you're caught red handed and forced to admit it. In this morning's Washington Post he washes his hands of determining his fate entirely: "I serve at the pleasure of the president of the United States. It's up to the president to decide if I should step down." He tried to blame everything in his aide, Kyle Sampson, the Regime's designated scapegoat. Gonzales' newest tact is "I was clueless." Senator Kennedy says he was clearly over his head and needs to resign.


Like I said when this first started breaking last week, the details of this smack of a nazification of the American justice system. They're treating the Justice Department the same way Hitler and his cronies treated the German justice system when they seized power 70 years ago, using it as an instrument of their party's consolidation of power and as a club to use against their partisan enemies.
"E-mails released yesterday show that White House deputy political director J. Scott Jennings communicated with Justice officials about the appointment of Tim Griffin, a former Rove aide, to be the U.S. attorney in Little Rock. Jennings used an e-mail account registered to the Republican National Committee, where Griffin had worked as an opposition researcher." It would be hard for anyone to argue that Griffin is qualified for the job, suitable for the job or that he would have had any chance whatsoever of being confirmed by the Senate had Rove not snuck him in.

Although Bush and President Bill Clinton each dismissed nearly all U.S. attorneys upon taking office, legal experts and former prosecutors say the firing of a large number of prosecutors in the middle of a term appears to be unprecedented and threatens the independence of prosecutors.

In defending themselves yesterday, Gonzales and the White House implicitly laid much of the blame for miscommunication with Congress on D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned Monday as Gonzales's chief of staff as the result of not telling other Justice officials about his extensive communications with the White House about the dismissals...

The Justice e-mails and internal documents, which were first reported yesterday by The Washington Post, show that political loyalty and positions on signature GOP policy issues loomed large in weighing whether a prosecutor should be dismissed. One e-mail from Sampson, for example, notes that the appointment of Griffin in Little Rock "was important to Harriet, Karl, etc."

The documents also illustrate that after nearly two years of debate, the dismissal of the seven prosecutors in December was carried out under a plan by Sampson that provided step-by-step guidance on how the prosecutors would be fired, who would be notified and how to deal with criticism. One section of the plan was titled "Preparing for Political Upheaval."

"I am concerned that to execute this plan properly we must all be on the same page and be steeled to withstand any political upheaval that might result," Sampson wrote to Miers and her deputy, William Kelley, on Nov. 15.

UPDATE: FIRST OUT OF THE STARTING GATE OVER ON THE FAR RIGHT: JOHN SUNUNU

Desperate to disprove his own 5 year record of completely rubber stamping every single monstrous proposal that the Bush Regime has sent down the pike, John Sununu (R-NH), thought to be the #1 most vulnerable GOP senator facing the voters in 2008, today announced he's backing Chuck Schumer's and Hillary Clinton's call for Gonzales to resign. "The president should fire the attorney general and replace him as soon as possible with someone who can provide strong, aggressive leadership prosecuting the war on terrorism, running the Department of Justice, and working with the president and Congress on important homeland security matters." Et tu, Sununu? Anyone want to take a guess who will be #3 (after Specter)?


UPDATE: IT GETS BETTER-- ROVE'S GETTIN' A SUBPOENA

You wondered why the Regime was so desperate that the Democrats not take back the Congress last year? You think anyone would have ever-- under any circumstances-- subpoenaed Karl Rove in the heyday of one-party, right-wing government? But this afternoon, our tribune, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), announced he will subpoena the much-loathed Rove."He can appear voluntarily if he wants," Leahy told Wolf Blitzer on CNN today. "If he doesn't, I will subpoena him." Those good ole rubber stamp days, huh fellas?