With Baited Breath….

President Bush’s long time friend and current Attorney General, Alberto “Berty” Gonzales is headed to Congress next Tuesday to testify regarding the firings of eight US Attorneys. Yesterday, Congress issued a subpoena for hundreds of additional documents from the justice department, without the thousands of redactions and edits that plagued the first batch released voluntarily. The White House has signaled thU.Sat it’s going to fight the subpoena, proving once again that secrecy and loyalty beat out the public interest in this Administration. We’re headed towards a possible constitutional showdown regarding the powers of the President.

Link Here

What is anomalous is why the White House does not abandon him. Even Newt Gingrich has broken the eleventh commandment saying “This is the most mishandled, artificial, self-created mess”. If party loyalists such as Gingrich aren’t convinced that its worth the fight, then why is the President (or more likely his advisors) convinced? If we assume that the firings were motivated by partisan politics, and I don’t think that’s a wild assumption, what might Bush do? He has two options, support his friend or throw him under the bus. But how would either of those choices affect the White House? To answer that question, it is important to realize that Gonzales is not just the attorney general. He’s been with the president since he was governor of Texas, and Berty managed to leverage that relationship into the top law enforcement job in the country. Someone this tight with the president is bound to be in on a number of secrets, including the true source of the attorney firings. Thus, the President wouldn’t succeed by jettisoning Gonzales. Aside from damaging the fabric of continuity that holds the Bush Empire together (namely political loyalty) discarding Gonzales would probably piss him off after a lifetime of service. The White House’s short term gains realized by axing the scandalous attorney general would be eaten up and overwhelmed by the damage a crossed and vengeful Berty would be able to inflict. Therefore the President must back up his friend. There isn’t a choice for him.

The next stage of the game is whether or not the documents will be released and whether or not they will include direct evidence linking the firings to political motivations. If they are released and do contain evidence, then what will happen to Berty? I believe at that point the political gains of defending him will pale compared to the costs. He will step down from his plum appointment in government, tight lipped and answering what he must to not be held in contempt of Congress, and then he will step into a plum appointment in the business sector closely tied to the Bush family. It is the only method Bush has left to him to reward Berty for his loyalty and it will be a sad day for America. I guess we’ll have to wait and see regarding the documents and Alberto Gonzales’s testimony next Tuesday. I wait with baited breath for the latest proof that this administration has next to no accountability, no sense of wrong doing, and values political loyalty over sound policy.