ALBERTO GONZALES-- ANOTHER VICTIM OF BUSH'S UNEMPLOYMENT STATS?

Long ago America decided it wouldn't buy a used car from Richard Nixon. I have a feeling the rationale-- basically distrust-- had more to do with that conclusion than anything about unemployment statistics. Since Bush has worked his "economic miracle" on America, the unemployment rate-- in terms of actual people not working-- has skyrocketed. But that is hardly the reason why no one is hiring Alberto Gonzales.

Tomorrow's NY Times looks at the one man unemployment catastrophe. Why can't the recently fired Attorney General and Bush family retainer find himself a job? "He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought." Could it have something to do with the way the quality of his work in his last job was evaluated? Honest people wouldn't want someone like Gonzales and organized crime would probably require someone more competent. Besides, who wants to sign on someone likely to have to stand trial and who will certainly be the subject of investigations and unflattering headlines in the not too distant future. His lifelong aspiration-- to be the first Hispanic-American member of the Supreme Court are far less likely than being the first Attorney General to expire in a prison cell.

[H]e left office last August with a frayed reputation over his role in the dismissal of several federal prosecutors and the truthfulness of his testimony about a secret eavesdropping program. He has had no full-time job since his resignation, and his principal income has come from giving a handful of talks at colleges and before private business groups.

“Maybe the passage of time will provide some opportunity for him,” said one Washington lawyer who was aware of an inquiry to his firm from a Gonzales associate. “I wouldn’t say ‘rebuffed,’ ” said the lawyer, who asked his name not be used because the situation being described was uncomfortable for Mr. Gonzales. “I would say ‘not taken up.’”

The greatest impediment to Mr. Gonzales’s being offered the kind of high-salary job being snagged these days by lesser Justice Department officials, many lawyers agree, is his performance during his last few months in office. In that period, he was openly criticized by lawmakers for being untruthful in his sworn testimony. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend actions from exonerating him to recommending criminal charges. Friends set up a fund to help pay his legal bills.

His friends say he makes a living giving speeches and some schools and corporations actually funnel large sums of money to him, ostensibly for sharing his wisdom with their students. "Pomona College debated inviting him and decided he was not worth the money, the college newspaper reported. His first speech at the University of Florida last November was interrupted by protesters dressed as detainees."

I would recommend a job he has been very adapt at-- that of fluffer for the rich and powerful-- but apparently even they are no longer interested in Gonzales' well demonstrated talents. Maybe after Bush pardons him on his last day of disgracing the presidency, for whatever crimes he may have committed, some rightists will think of something they can do with... like in the back somewhere where he won't have much interaction with normal people.