March's GOP Asshat of the Month

It's glaringly obvious that March's GOP Asshat of the Month honors goes to Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. Bush administration thugs are usually very meticulous in covering up their scandals under clouds of legal ambiguity. Gonzalez's attempts to persuade us that black is actually white in regards to the questionable terminations of U.S. attorneys across the country is directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of numerous credible sources. Anybody who doesn't have a direct stake at making the Bush administration look good (an increasingly difficult job) is publicly suggesting that Gonzalez face the music and resign for his politically motivated firings of Attorney Generals that the Rovian wing of the Bush administration decided were not sufficiently partisan in their respective offices and not sufficiently dedicated to the advancement of the national Republican Party.

And through it all, Bush is simply reinforcing his reputation as someone who unconditionally stands by his man even in the face of obvious lawbreaking/incompetence/ethical bankruptcy....the very stubbornness that was sold to a naive public as an asset for Bush in the 2004 campaign. Bush stood by Donald Rumsfeld even after the Abu Gharib scandal and the recognition of how woefully inept pre-war planning had been. Bush stood by FEMA Director Michael Brown even as Gulf Coast residents sat in desperation for nearly a week awaiting disaster relief from FEMA. Bush even stood by baseball-playing buddy Rafael Palmeiro when Palmeiro's sworn testimony about steroid usage was disproven by a drug test. Now, Bush does the same with another "loyal friend" who even the National Review confessed has been ineffective in the Attorney General's office and needs to go for his deception and his abuse of Justice Department resources. Undoubtedly, Bush would be standing by Congressman Mark Foley had Foley not taken upon itself to resign only hours after the sex scandal broke. Why? Because Foley had an (R) next to his name and was thus an ideological soulmate to President Bush.

There's something to be said for loyalty, but it's only honorable when defending a principle worth defending. Alberto Gonzalez' political terminations of U.S. Attorneys and then lying about it to the American people does not meet the "worthy cause" threshold. If Bush wants to boost his own political fortunes and the fortunes of his party in 2008, he would fire Gonzalez and Karl Rove, the guy who has orchestrated this and virtually every other of the more-numerous-by-the-week Bush administration.