Gonzales must go

I love it when they talk like this. The NYT takes a swipe at Al Gonzales today and draws blood, calling outright for the AG's termination.

We opposed Mr. Gonzales’s nomination as attorney general. His résumé was weak, centered around producing legal briefs for Mr. Bush that assured him that the law said what he wanted it to say. More than anyone in the administration, except perhaps Vice President Dick Cheney, Mr. Gonzales symbolizes Mr. Bush’s disdain for the separation of powers, civil liberties and the rule of law.

On Thursday, Senator Arlen Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, hinted very obliquely that perhaps Mr. Gonzales’s time was up. We’re not going to be oblique. Mr. Bush should dismiss Mr. Gonzales and finally appoint an attorney general who will use the job to enforce the law and defend the Constitution.

I opposed his nomination rather vigorously myself at the time. He was so obviously nothing more than a political hack and willing boot polisher appointed to invent and defend the unitary executive theory which has nearly destroyed the system of checks and balances in our government. It's clear that his allegiance was, and is, to his "king" and not to the American people and he should certainly resign immediately.

Of course, any new nominee put forward by Bush is likely to be just as much a lackey but at least this time the Democrats are in a position to insist new candidates be judged on their records rather than allowing a clearly unqualified AG to be confirmed based almost solely on his symbolic contribution to ethnic diversity in the Cabinet. If we've learned anything from Gonzales' tenure, it's that diversity is rendered meaningless within the framework of incestuous ideology.