This story over at HuffPo really got me steamed.
Gonzalez's resignation would be one of the least desirable outcomes. That's why Repugs are pushing for it. They know the rot that lurks just beneath the surface of this story so they just want to make the story go away by offering up Abu Gonzalez as a sacrifical lamb. The pressure on Abu G must be enormous: He can resign and quietly be assimilated into some huge rat wing corporate law firm for ten times as much money as he's being paid now, then the story disappears and everybody sleeps easier. In light of this, it was nice to hear Chuck Schumer proclaim that there would not be a "Scooter Libby" (fall guy) in this case.
If the rat wing fascist pukes get away with this gross perversion of justice, put a fork in everything that was once decent and admirable about this country. It's over. We're officially a gangster-ocracy. Let me explain in some detail:
The point that has been studiously avoided in the corporate press -- the main point, as usual -- is that these firings were not routine political payback. Indeed, all the fired U.S. attorneys were Republicans who had been appointed by Bush, and they were not fired for poor performance; if anything, they were fired for doing their jobs too well.
Some of the firings have all the markings of obstruction of justice to the nth degree.
Carol Lam, for example, despite having half her staff tied up with inane immigration cases, nailed the disgustingly corrupt and powerful pig, Duke Cunningham. In the process, the Hookergate scandal came to light, resulting in the resignation of Dusty Foggo. Hookergate continues to fester, but the long and short of it is that a defense contractor paid for prostitutes for Cunningham (and probably Foggo, which raises all kinds of national security concerns since Foggo was the number-two man at CIA); in other words, taxpayer money was essentially used to procure prostitutes for a congressman who then shoveled more taxpayer money at the defense contractor.
Cunningham, now in prison, is a Republican. Lam's reward for successfully prosecuting this arrogant scumbag, for honoring her duty to uphold the law over her "duty" to cover up the crimes of her party? She got fired.
Then there was USA David Iglesias who, by all appearances, was fired for adhering to the law, as would be reasonably expected of any attorney. US attorneys are prohibited by law from discussing their current investigations for obvious reasons. That didn't stop Senator Pete Domenici from trying to strongarm Iglesias into indicting Democrats "before November," i.e., before the election. Nor did it stop Rep. Heather Wilson from trying to pump Iglesias for information on the same cases. Domenici and Wilson should (and, if there is still a semblance of the rule of law in this nation, will) be prosecuted.
I'm not going to bore you by going through each and every one of the firings, but let's just say that a clear pattern emerges, and each piece of it unleashes the vile odor of corruption that defines the Bush Junta. Serious crimes were committed, far worse crimes than lying about some under-the-desk extracurricular recreation in the Oval Office, crimes that compromised national security, cost taxpayers millions (billions?) of dollars, and -- worst of all -- attempted to amputate the long arm of the law. Head on over to TPMmuckraker.com for the full story if you think you can stomach it.
The good news is that the best case scenario for the rat wing fascists is Abu Gonzalez's resignation. But we the people cannot and -- I hope -- will not accept that consolation prize.