Why Bush Won’t Fire Gonzales
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Law
Okay, dime store psychologist time.
The GOP wants Alberto to leave. But he won’t. And I think it’s becoming increasingly clear that the President isn’t going to ask him to leave either. Why? Well, take a look at these two paragraphs and I’ll followup with my thoughts after.
“He’s done something I didn’t think possible. He’s lost the confidence of almost all the Republicans in Congress,” said one top GOP strategist who is close to the White House, anonymous when talking about sensitive personnel matters. A big GOP concern: Gonzales’s continued presence will make it hard to move measures important to the party’s base, like immigration reform, through the judiciary committees, said the strategist.But Gonzales himself was hanging tough. “We believe the burden is now on the Democrats to prove that something improper occurred hereâ€â€?and they haven’t done that,” said a top Justice official (who asked not to be ID’d talking about nonpublic matters). Publicly, the White House was standing by its A.G. One White House adviser (who asked not to be ID’ed talking about sensitive issues) said the support reflected Bush’s own view that a Gonzales resignation would embolden the Dems to go after other targetsâ€â€?like Karl Rove. “This is about Bush saying, ‘Screw you’,” said the adviser, conceding that a Gonzales resignation might still be inevitable. The trick, said the adviser, would be to find a graceful exit strategy for Bush’s old friend.
So first, how exactly are the Dems going to prove something went wrong? Peek into Alberto’s head and prove that he actually did remember those conversations? Yeah, not gonna happen.
But isn’t the vote of no confidence from the GOP enough for Bush to get the clue that everybody thinks Gonzales is lying or stupid or both? Nope. Here’s why.
Reading the last line of the second paragraph again we see the words “Bush’s old friend.” That’s non-trivial. I mean, this has been Bush’s guy for a long time. He even appointed Gonzales to the Texas Supreme Court. So if Bush fires Gonzales, it’s kind of like admitting that he’s been wrong about this guy for years…in essence a vote of no confidence in his own managerial skills.
And for a President who’s becoming increasingly isolated, I don’t think he’s in the right frame of mine to start admitting things like that.
At least…that’s my theory.
What’s yours?
This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 and is filed under General Politics, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
April 24th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
I could not agree with you more!!! Bush’s refusal to fire Gonzales stems from the same pathological arrogance that prevents him from seeing the truth about his Iraq policy.
I would lol if it weren’t such a tragic and dangerous affair.
-Dave in California
April 24th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
Many things can trigger the need to not want to admit one is wrong. Arrogance is one of them, but fear is another. I usually find that the two are closely intertwined.
April 24th, 2007 at 10:03 pm
Possibility 1: Gonzales has the worst memory on earth and is grossly incompetent
Possibility 2: Gonzales is lying (of course he’s lying) because he doesn’t want to implicate himself
Possiblility 3: He is lying because he is willing to look like an idiot in order to protect Rove and Bush himself
I think the Bush culture dictates that middle managers throw themselves to the wolves to protect the biggies (like Scooter Libby, they tried to toss Harriet Myers under the bus, etc.) with the understanding that if they make it through, they are rewarded with the loyalty of the President. Rumsfeld was first. That one had to hurt Bush. Scooter was next, but he was easier, because he was Cheney’s man. Gonzales could be the next, but this one is tougher because of the friendship thing, as Justin points out. So Bush is playing a game of chicken with the Dems, testing how far he has to stick his neck out for poor little loyal Gonzales. If he has to cut Gonzales loose, it will really hurt him. But of course, he’ll do it if he has to, and I think he’ll have to very soon.
The Hatch Act is a very big deal. If it came to light that Rove or Bush knowingly used public funds to promote for Republican candidates, we’d have another Watergate on our hands. He’ll throw little Roberto under the bus before he’d let that happen, and Roberto would choose to do it. I really think they are that loyal to each other. It’s kind of endearing.
April 25th, 2007 at 6:41 am
Possiblility 4: The Republicans smoke so much marijuana it has effected their memory.
I’m pretty sure those called to the hill in the next two years for investigations will show how much damage marijuana does to your memory.
Who knew. I thought the Dems were the Pot smoking group.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
i just like how alberto is lovingly gazing into george’s eyes.
April 25th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Lauren- HA! looks like he’s giving him a reach-around. oh they’re buddies alright!
April 25th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I wish the Republicans would start smokin pot. They’d be a lot cooler if they did…
April 26th, 2007 at 12:26 am
Frankly I suspect that almost everyone in this administration has been mainlining acid for decades, based on their nonexistent grasp on reality…
April 27th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
I think Gonzolas may have too many Bush secrets to be fired by him. Bush may not want to risk a tell all book by Gonzolas - keep your friends close and your potential enemies closer may be real here.
I do like the idea of keeping Gonzolas around just to have him come to congress some moe to testify - what more might we discover in his evasive replies?