Gonzo Is Gonzo

In a way, I'll miss him. It's been fun in an odd way to watch how far he'll go to protect the Bush administration while not being quite able to pull it off gracefully. Who can forget the parade of "I don't remember" variances we've seen from his congressional testimony? My personal favorite from the vast collection of Alberto Gonzales, the pinhead.

As much fun as it was to watch the daily blundering missteps from the Department of Justice, there are some serious aspects of Gonzo's departure, for example the latest FISA revision gave the Attorney General a great deal of power. So are we better off now that he's gone? Now steps in Paul Clement (from FDL)

Publicly, Clement has forcefully argued that the president has broad power in wartime to imprison those he deems enemies, indefinitely and without access to legal counsel. Clement’s allies suggest that behind closed doors he may counsel a more moderate stance.

So I suppose it would be too much to ask for Clement to step up on contempt of congress charges where his predecessor didn't. Maybe Bush will appoint someone who would stand up for justice, and the citizens of America . . . then again maybe not. The rumors persist that Michael Chertoff, overseer of the Department of Homeland Security during it's worst performance ever (and someone who occasionally has a gut feeling that terrorists are about to get us), is next in line for the job. With Harry Reid already having called for his resignation from his DHS post, it seems like the confirmation would be a fight, to say the least. So we may be stuck with interim "Bush can put anyone he wants in jail" Clement for a while (unless Democrats cave to Bush again, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed). But despite the DOJ not really improving under Clement in the short term, or (I hope not) Chertoff in the long term, I'm still glad Gonzales is gone. No one should be able to treat the Constitution as badly as he has and be allowed to keep their job.

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