Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Resigns (At Last)

[innerSpaceman]

September 17 is his last day. He resigned Friday and announced it today.

There goes the biggest shield the President had against having his entire last year mired in constant Congressional investigations.


Go, Waxman, Go!

[wendybeth]

The rats are scurrying. I wonder what bone Gonzales is getting thrown for sacrificing himself? I really doubt he'd resign without Dubya's instigation, or rather Cheney's.....

[innerSpaceman]

No way. Bush wanted him to stay till the end, and desperately so. Seriously, no one else at the Justice Department will move to thwart the tsunami tide of Congressional investigations of this Administration's misdeeds.

[wendybeth]

Well, Bush may be a lame duck, but Cheney is probably not yet ready to cede power- he intends to be a player as long as he can. So, I'm a bit suspicious as to the timing here; if Gonzales resigns now, they can get what is bound to get drug out in public over with, and have that much time to clean up and shore up. Gonzales was not going to go one minute, then the next he's suddenly had it? I don't buy that for a second, unless there is some deal going down that we don't know about yet.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I'm not sure where I heard it (probably NPR), but I believe that anyone who wasn't going to stay with the president until the end was supposed to resign before labor day, so this may not be the last resignation this week.

[Gemini Cricket]

It seems like there's a lot of resignations with this administration. Did previous presidents have this many?

[Tref]

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales returned to his office to-day after apparently forgetting that he had resigned at a press conference only minutes before. "I don't recall resigning,” said a confused Gonzales. According to witnesses, Gonzales was surprised to find Solicitor General Paul Clement occupying his former office. After aides explained that he had, only moments before, resigned from the position of Attorney General, Gonzales reportedly replied, "I was Attorney General? Whoa!"

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

It seems like there's a lot of resignations with this administration. Did previous presidents have this many?

A fair amount of rotation is normal.

[Alex]

There is frequently a high turnover of top positions following the re-election of a president and again after the last mid-term of a presidential term, simply because the players need to start positioning themselves for their post presidential life (be it getting rich in the private sector, hooking their wagon to another political powerhouse, or seeking elective office of their own).

But I think the electoral defeat last November and the scandals since somewhat tempered that since unless they really were pushed out because of theme (Rumsfeld) they would want to avoid the perception of a connection and so they've bunched up a bit at a later date in the administration than might be normal.

I don't know if the numbers are similar compared to Clinton and Reagan but I don't find them all that surprising. That said, I don't think that such machinations have anything to do with the resignation and timing thereof for Gonzalez. I wouldn't be surprised if we learn the decision was made months ago and held until a relatively quiet period (and August is always a quiet period) so that they could at least pretend it had nothing to do with the senate testimonies.

I do find the idea that this is timed to do a recess appointment (which wouldn't require any congressional approval) very interesting but really do hope not.

[Morrigoon]

I wonder how long until the international war crimes trial? Remember how they hunted Nazis all over the globe?

(Oh dear, I didn't just invoke Godwin's Law, did I?)