In a written statement Wednesday, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the "honesty and capability" of the attorney general must be unquestioned, and that Gonzales "can no longer meet this standard." (Full story)
Minnesota's Norm Coleman became the sixth Republican to call for Gonzales to go. His spokesman, Leroy Coleman, told CNN the senator was angered by revelations that the former U.S. attorney in Minneapolis had been on a Justice Department list for dismissal as part of a shakeup that has stirred up a firestorm on Capitol Hill.
Three other GOP senators have called for Gonzales to resign: Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, John McCain of Arizona and John Sununu of New Hampshire. McCain is running for president; Hagel is considering a run.
Another Republican, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts, suggested to The Associated Press on Wednesday that Gonzales should consider stepping down: "When you have to spend more time up here on Capitol Hill instead of running the Justice Department, maybe you ought to think about it."
The Reign of Bush is over. Here comes the backlash.
George Bush is now the lamest duck in American politics: a seventh-year president with approval ratings threatening to break through 33% (2 to 1) facing two hostile chambers of Congress and the rapdily escalating threat of party mutiny. Even the wingnuts are getting sick of constantly defending him; the inevitable Jimmy Carter comparisons will be unfair but they will be the surest sign of the genuine disgust of the scratch-a-diamond right.
Remember how we were all hanging our heads on November 5, 2004? How could we lose to that son of a bitch again?! But within just two years, the Democrats stormed Congress in the midterm. What happened in that span of time? Among other things....
The whole world recoiled in horror at the epidemic of stupid that broke out during the aftermath of Katrina.
We found about this godawful wiretapping program, and we've still only scratched the surface, apparently.
Republicans started getting convicted of things. Cunningham, Ney, Delay. Literally too many executive branch officials to list.
Mark Foley went supernova.
The recent spectacle of Gonzales spending something like 12 full hours of testimony finding new and ever more circumlocutious ways to say "I don't remember. Can I go now?" seems to have marked some kind of tipping point in the GOP itself. Or maybe it's the immigration deal, which I haven't had a chance to read much about yet (been a busy week). Or maybe they've finally grasped the Friedman Unit concept on their own; they've realized that all this talk about September is bullshit.
But whatever is causing it, the Democrats are going to be ascendant, even dominant, for the next two years, at least. Despite the intermittent bout of trepidation, the leadership has made enough of the right moves. The public is slowly but surely coming around to broad agreement with many of the major elements of the blogospheric alternative narrative of recent American political history. That narrative says the national Republican Party is one enormous machine. It's the worst soaked-sheets nightmare the wingnuts ever had: turns out Hillary wasn't kidding after all about that vast right-wing conspiracy.
They are seeing what we see, more or less, if the unusually high level of agreement between Democratic and Independent numbers in polls is any indication.
So here comes the backlash. The neocons are like a drunk uncle who's been sleeping on your couch for months; everybody's tired of the fucking act, and no you can't have any more beer. Go home.
Actually, they're like a drunk driver....Bush won't hand over the keys, and he seems unaware that the keys will eventually be taken from him, and once that happens, there is going to be an accounting for each and every single one of the lickspittle cowards in the Republican Party who helped George hang on to the keys, long after it was clear to everyone the danger we were all in.
Conventional wisdom says the next President is all but assured to be a Democrat. Now, I don't like making predictions, especially this far from the election, but I the smart money is going to be on the Donx in 08. I mean, it's not just the corruption, stupid. It's also Iraq, stupid. And Katrina, stupid. And Osama bin Laden continuing to breathe, stupid.
No one has been held accountable for any of this. Furniture was rearranged. Offices were re-decorated. Families saw more of former officials. Power Point presentations were edited. The passive voice was frequently invoked. But nobody actually paid any price for abjectly failing the country, repeatedly, due to either incompetence or sheer apathy, or worse. (Probably all three.)
But now, ever since the Democratic Revolution of 2006 (hey, it counts if 1994 counts), events have been beyond Bush's grasp, a sure sign of a lame duck. Roberts--Roberts! of all people!--openly mocking Gonzales is incredible...maybe the long-rumored GOP civil war insurgency truly is about to begin.
I think the odds of Bush getting impeached and successfully removed from office by the end of the summer have jumped to 50-50 with the Comey/Ashcroft revelations. At this point, McConnell and Boehner control Bush's political fate. They are literally all that is standing between Bush and eviction. Bush can do nothing for them any more, and is pretty much just an enormous dead weight on the team right now.
One major obstacle to impeachment is the idea that Pelosi could become President via an act of Congress; this is an obvious deal-breaker for Congressional Republicans, and reasonably so. Why not offer a deal: support the impeachment of both Bush and Cheney, and a replacement Vice President (not President) will be appointed by the House, to serve the remainder of the term til January 20, 2009. We could concede that the interim VP be a Republican, provided that this person decline to run for the presidency in 2008. Perhaps a stipulation that they not issue pardons to Bush, Cheney, or anyone in their inner circle accused of systemic abuses of power and gross violations of the public trust could be worked out. (Well...maybe not....but it couldn't hurt to ask....)
If the mood among Republicans gets much fouler, I think this deal could be acceptable to the overwhelming majority of the country; Republicans would be relieved to be rid of him, and Democrats would acheive the lasting stigmatization of Bush and what he's wrought that the whole sorry mess deserves.
McConnell and Boehner, whether they've realized it or not yet, are the de facto leaders of the Republican party until the Republican nominating convention, whenever that is. They have a window that will close between now and the primary season, maybe by the end of 2007, when this will work. If they wait too long, no impeachment will take place due to the looming silly season election year.
If they're smart, they do this as early as possible. It very well might be their best chance at salvaging 2010.
If they're dumb, they're going to go down with the ship. If they're dumb, they'll ride the anvil all the way down to the bottom.
The real backlash is yet to come.