In both of Pyrrhus's victories, the Romans suffered greater personnel losses than Pyrrhus did. However, the Romans had a large supply of men from which to draw soldiers, so their losses did less damage to their war effort than Pyrrhus's losses did to his.
-- paraphrased from Wikipedia
With Gonzales’s resignation, I see many of us stumbling into a familiar trap: feeling like we have accomplished something when we have really accomplished nothing. (Please follow below.)
We stepped into the same trap when Rumsfeld resigned (remember how people thought that might be significant at the time?).
We stepped into it again when people seemed to feel some sense of satisfaction at the Libby conviction.
We stepped into it again when senior and junior Justice Department officials started resigning en masse.
We stepped into it again when Rove resigned.
And now Gonzales.
We need to recognize: it fundamentally does not matter which half-witted sycophant fills a particular chair if Bush Administration policies do not fundamentally change.
Under other circumstances it might matter. Under other circumstances, competence in day-to-day administration can be as important as the policy decisions (think Katrina).
However, it has become painfully clear that we cannot expect competence from a Bush appointee. Competence is not the basis of Bush appointments. Loyalty is.
The Bush Presidency has now become such a horrific disaster that only the rottenest of turnips left on the back of the turnip truck that is the Republican bandwagon would still be willing to demonstrate sufficient fealty to pass a Bush loyalty test.
It has also become painfully clear that Democrats seem willing to oppose only the most obscenely ridiculous of Bush nominations (Bernard Kerik, Harriet Miers, John Bolton).
Consider: only 13 Democrats voted against confirming featherweight-sycophant Condoleezza Rice to be Secretary of State, after her atrocious performance as National Security Advisor, and at a critical moment in our nation's history.
NPR this morning reported in their retrospective on Gonzales that he was subjected to a "blistering" round of questioning in his Senate confirmation hearings. Ooooh! A blistering Q&A session -- before they confirmed a criminal hack to be our nation's chief law enforcement officer. (36 Democrats did oppose that one -- maybe if we get up to 70 or 80 Democratic Senators, we could actually get a 51-vote majority behind obvious, common-sense votes once in a while!)
So, if we cannot realistically expect competence in appointments, the sole focus of Democrats should be on influencing national policy, through the means at the disposal of Congress: 1) passage of new legislation, 2) oversight.
However, in the policy arena, the Bush agenda – amazingly – continues to advance, sustaining momentum due to clear Democratic failures in both legislating and oversight.
- With their famous FISA vote before the recess, Democrats – Democrats! – essentially endorsed the Bush Administration’s warrantless wiretapping and domestic spying programs – a massive set-back to our civil liberties.
- With respect to Iraq, and the famous oversight ensured by the "September Report," Bushnik snow-jobs – blizzards of make-believe data and wishcasting – seem to have effectively reframed the debate in the last few weeks. It now seems like few Congressional voices are speaking out to recognize the still-disintegrating realities of the disaster.
If the real field of battle is around policy, with our leverage coming from laws and oversight, and if we continue to backslide and bumble in these arenas, it doesn’t really matter how many Administration incompetents collapse under the weight of their own towering corruption.
In fact, when almost none of the departed Bush officials are ever held accountable for their incompetence and criminal behavior, these resignations only matter, if at all, in a destructive way – these people were allowed to set appalling precedents and essentially get away with it. (Has Gonzo announced his 7-figure book-deal yet?)
So if you spot anyone starting to feel all warm and fuzzy about the departure of Gonzales, please urge them to recall the prophetic words of Stephen Colbert last year:
Some people say changing the cabinet around is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. That's not true; this administration isn't sinking. In fact, this administration is soaring; if anything, it's like rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.
And we're still all going along for the ride.