Gonzales Resigns

Well at last. With Karl Rove gone there was no need to keep Gonzales around to protect him. So he’s gone too. The second abominable apple has fallen from the Bush tree of iniquity. Here’s the New York Times version of the news: Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales Resigns

Gonzales was a despicable little man. Small of stature and small of mind. He willingly allowed the Bush regime to use the apparatus of the Justice Department for openly political ends. That’s against the law. Then, when Congress finally started to investigate, he lied incessantly to protect his boss and those others in the White House complicit in the nefarious goings on.

As if that weren’t enough: he is also the man who wrote, and advocated, that America should embrace torture as a valid method of interrogation; he advocated the gutting of the Geneva Conventions; and he tried to find a rationale for the establishment of the gulag we call Gitmo.

In short he was the very living epitome of the Bush regime’s anti-American activity. He violated every principle America had previously stood for. He was appalling.

And to cap it off he destroyed the Justice Department’s morale and standing. On his watch the DoJ became nothing but an arm of Republican Party election machinery. Its non-political staff were ignored and reduced to irrelevancy. Party hacks were put in place to ensure “loyal Bushies” [a quote from his former Chief of Staff] were given all the plum assignments and jobs. Party loyalty replaced professional training as an entry requirement. Outstanding attorneys, all of them loyal Republicans, were unceremoniously kicked out if they refused to play the Karl Rove political game. Gonzales did the dirty work and covered tracks while Rove broke the law. The Department is now in total disarray: all three of the top jobs are now vacant; applicants for positions around the country have plummeted; and reports suggest that more staff would leave if the opportunity arose.

History will record that the Bush presidency was the worst ever. Gonzales tenure at Justice will be remembered as one of the worst, most shameful, moments in that awful era.

Now he’s gone, and the work can begin to return the the rule of law, as opposed to the rule of party, to the country.

It’s about time.