Odd rumor of the day

August 26, 2007

U.S. News’ Paul Bedard often does a good job keeping his ear to the ground, but his latest rumor is an odd one.

The buzz among top Bushies is that beleaguered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally plans to depart and will be replaced by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. Why Chertoff? Officials say he’s got fans on Capitol Hill, is untouched by the Justice prosecutor scandal, and has more experience than Gonzales did, having served as a federal judge and assistant attorney general.

For what it’s worth, Bob Novak reported a month ago that “there are a number of cabinet members who would like to leave,” but by all indications, Gonzales isn’t one of them. Indeed, the AG’s departure would likely be perceived as a defeat for the White House, which is perhaps the principal reason Gonzales is still the nation’s chief law-enforcement officer. (Am I suggesting the president would keep an incompetent and dishonest Attorney General on the job out of spite? Yes.)

What’s more, when Gonzales’ troubles really started hitting the fan in March, Mike Allen was the first to report Chertoff was on a short-list of possible replacements, so I suppose there’s some precedent to Bedard’s rumor.

Color me skeptical. I don’t doubt that if Bush were willing to replace Gonzales, he’d probably pick someone who stood a good chance of being confirmed, but I think it’s probably an overstatement to suggest Chertoff is popular among lawmakers. Indeed, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has already called on Chertoff to resign.

And while it’s certainly true that Chertoff is untainted by Gonzales’ multiple DoJ scandals, he is tainted by his own DHS scandals, including the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, his “gut feeling” fiasco, and some controversial staffing decisions.

Regardless, that’s the rumor. Take it with a grain of salt.

Why doesn’t he just nominate Satan? Why fool around with halfway measures?

  • Anybody else worried that they’re making sure Chertoff is already in the lifeboat before the Titanic hits the iceberg? Some stiff gets DHS just in time to get blamed for the Next One. Hell, why not nominate a Democrat (Lieberman?), get kudos from the High Broderists for bipartisanship, fix the blame on the ringer, and throw the corpse overboard.

    It’s classic bureaucratic behavior.

    I remember that the spring before busing started in Boston a half-dozen well-connected principals in impacted neighborhoods got quickie promotion to assistant superintendent. The assistant principals in each building got battlefield promotions to principal — they were expendable.

  • An odd rumor? Perhaps—and yet again, perhaps not. Bush will need to replace Gonzo with a devout Bushylvanian; Jerk-off fits the bill nicely, and the BlueDogs in the Senate can easily give the GOP/Lieberman bloc a majority. A tie can be broken by Cheney, as well.

    There’s also an “aside” issue to consider. Given that JerkOff has headed the overall DHS (which includes some rather nefarious and evil/twisted things of its own), can the country actually afford to have this guy pick up the dossier as AG?

    Or—Bush could hold on to Gonzo until the December recess and run a one-two punch down Congress’ throat with a Gonzo resignation/JerkOff appointment. that gives Bush a “One-Year AG”—with only one year remaining in his administration.

    Merry Christmas, America—here’s your lump of high-sulphur coal….

  • I wonder if the idea here is to float this as a peace offering to Dems for their concessions in the looming FISA fight, and to get them to back off their investigations. As bad as the WH FISA bill is, handing those powers over to a specific corrupted individual like Gonzo is beyond the pale.

    It’s hard to imagine Bush making any concession, let a lone a full 180 like this. But if he could get his FISA bill, and the investigations dropped or severely limited, he’d come out way ahead. They say Bush is loyal to a fault. What they don’t mention is the nature of that fault – which is when someone gets in the way of what he wants, they quickly go over the side.

  • Oh, dear Lord – how is Chertoff an improvement? There’s a difference between replacing Gonzales with someone who is the anti-Gonzales, meaning someone who is committed to adhering to the Constitution, to being non-partisan in the administration of the DOJ, to telling the WH when things just cannot be done and refusing to do them, and replacing him with someone who has already shown that he is ready, willing and able to do whatever the WH wants him to do. Chertoff is a known quantity, and anyone who would be fooled by a move like this to back off the investigations, and pull back on plans to re-do the FISA bill doesn’t deserve to be sitting in the US Senate.

    As long as Bush is the president, there will never be an Attorney General who will be anything but a WH toady and a tool of partisan political machinations – this WH cannot afford to have anyone able to have access to, and who can poke through, all the dirty secrets still locked away, who would have the kind of integrity, conscience and commitment to the law that might mean he or she would have to do the “right thing,” and have them all indicted and arrested.

    Any nominee, for any open position, in this administration, is suspect.

  • Regarding the question “Am I suggesting the president would keep an incompetent and dishonest Attorney General on the job out of spite?”

    Sorry, I thought “incompetent and dishonest” were minimum requirements for a high level position in the Bush Administration.

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  • Why doesn’t he just nominate Satan? Why fool around with halfway measures?

    I don’t think nCheney would give up his current job to be AG.

    Nightmare/Tinfoil Hat Scenario: Bush folds DoJ into Department of Fatherland Security, making GoneZo Chertoff’s underling.

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