As the riight wing media have been reporting for the past week, Alberto Gonzales is learning that being a friend of Dubya ain't the same as being a friend of Bill. Gonzales has, apparently, no other friends in D.C., and he is living his last days as attorney general
The whitehouse is seeking replacements. In a breaking story, Politico reports:
...names floated Monday by administration officials are Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and White House anti-terrorism coordinator Frances Townsend. Former Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson is a White House prospect. So is former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson, but sources were unsure whether he would want the job.Republican sources also disclosed that it is now a virtual certainty that Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty, whose incomplete and inaccurate congressional testimony about the prosecutors helped precipitate the crisis, will also resign shortly. Officials were debating whether Gonzales and McNulty should depart at the same time or whether McNulty should go a day or two after Gonzales. Still known as "The Judge" for his service on the Texas Supreme Court, Gonzales is one of the few remaining original Texans who came to Washington with President Bush.
Our readers might find a twinge of emotion to hear, from politico, that
In a sign of Republican despair, GOP political strategists on Capitol Hill said that it is too late for Gonzales' departure to head off a full-scale Democratic investigation into the motives and timing behind the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
"Democrats smell blood in the water, and (Gonzales') resignation won't stop them," said a well-connected Republican Senate aide. "And on our side, no one's going to defend him. All we can do is warn Democrats against overreaching."
Apparently, the article reports, Bush,whose surrogates--Snow, etc, say he supports Gonzales, has not spoken to him since a conversation the two had when Bush was in Mexico.
A friend of Bush... we're learning what that means... as they, one by one, disappear from the Whitehouse. Now that the Democratic subpoena train has left the station, built up steam and is really rolling, it will be interesting to see some the loyalty Bush's friends have when they are put under oath.
