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and times when you publicly hold people to account. This is a time for Senators to close ranks.

Here's an idea: If someone needs to hold Gonzales to account, let that someone be us. Let the conservative blogosphere and media (e.g., NRO, WSJ, NY Sun) pound AGAG for his hamhanded handling of this matter.

Our Senators, on the other hand, should close ranks around the President's embattled nominee. The Democratic Senators have no interest in gathering info. They want to spray blood---Gonzales', GWB's, the GOP's---all over that Capitol Hill hearing room and the news wires. GOP Senators should realize that. This isn't a fair hearing. It's a battlefield. Treat it as such!

But, instead, GOP Senators apparently feel professionally and ethically compelled to use this forum to air their grievances against AGAG. In so doing, they say things in public that they should be saying in private. Because, this isn't a hearing. This is an ambush, laid for Gonzales and the President. The GOP Senators should recognize this, and refuse to participate. If the Dems twist the rules of the game, then we shouldn't feel compelled to play.

No, I'm not saying the Senators should have boycotted the hearing. But, don't play into the show trial theme the Dems are obviously pushing!

Now, after they've pounded the AG publicly, if Coburn and other GOP Senators go on Sunday talk shows and assert that AGAG serves at the pleasure of the president, that the attorneys "scandal" has been sensationalized beyond all common sense---no matter. Russert and Steph and Schieffer will simply play tapes of the GOP senators at this hearing calling for AGAG to step down. Then, the GOP Senators will have to spend their limited airtime on these shows/interviews dealing with their own party's calls for AGAG to step down, instead of making arguments they want to make. They'll be on defense, not offense. Meanwhile, the Democratic party rep, knowing that he/she has the initiative in this debate---largely because the GOP Senate gave it to him!!!!---will sit there and smile in satisfaction. If I were the Democrat, that's what I'd do.

Can anyone on our side fight this PR battle? More to the point, doesn't our side realize that everything the Dems do is related to their PR fight against us? So, shouldn't our side's key public players temper their public actions accordingly?

To be specific---if you're a GOP Senator on Judiciary, don't crucify AGAG in public. Do it in private, to the President. After all, AGAG works for him, not you. So, unless you plan to try and impeach the AG, Senator, your best bet to remove the AG---if that's what you really feel is called for--is to convince the President to fire him. You don't need to do that with C-SPAN cameras and DNC propagandists watching. Instead, you should remember that the AG is mostly a proxy target. Team Reid/Schumer can't beat up on Dubya, so they're instead beating up on whomever they can get in front of their committee. GOP Senators, you DO get that, don't you?

There are others on our side better positioned to pound the AG for screwing up the attorneys firings--conservative media and bloggers. Leave it to us to do the job we're best positioned to do.

"Who will stand/On either hand/And guard this bridge with me?" (Macaulay)

> Do it in private

Exactly. That is what a political party does. That is what any good organization and team does. Disagree only in private, work together in public.

I don't know what is going on behind the scenes, but this has the feeling of a political nightmare. It's like a Republican circular firing squad where Republicans Senators publicly try to force a Republican President to fire his own AG.

This rocks. It just rocks so amazingly solidly that I'm going to print it out and frame it.

> it will be a resounding victory for the Democrats and the craven partisan press.

Unfortunately this whole process is heading towards a victory for them in a lot of ways, because it weakens the President and divides Republicans against each other. The first inter-party fight causes bad feelings which makes a second one more likely. The first rebellion against the President by Repubs makes the second one easier, and unfortunately that one could be about the war.

United we stand, divided we fall.

I think Ed at Captain's Quarters nails this one pretty good:

"Several commenters have called me and the Senators criticizing Gonzales "fair-weather Republicans." In my opinion, that's ridiculous. I support Republicans because they usually represent competence and smaller government, not because I belong to the Republican Tribe. I'm not going to support or defend obvious incompetence on the part of Republicans, and Gonzales has been an incompetent in this matter, as Tom Coburn rightly points out."

Ouch.

Both were thrown under the bus. Republicans are throwing their unpopular president under the bus for his history of highly questionable nominiees.

To toss Gonzales now would be tacitly to admit every bit about this coming from the gobs of Schumer/Leahy, all the rhetoric about Dick Nixon and all the screaming rants.

No, I don't think AGAG should stay as attorney general. I believe he is a detriment to this White House. But he had better not be tossed when his ejection implies that they Schumer/Leahy nonsense has a basis in fact.

Coburn, it seems, was playing to the media-spawned public opinion. It's a craven business, and he's redefining himself in my mind.

One can only hope that Bush soon has a quiet conversation with Gonzo, leading to his resignation. There really aren't many options.

Harriet Miers was never confirmed by the Senate, unlike the Attorney General and US Attorneys. The Senate has a constitutional role in confirming nominees. Once someone is confirmed, they serve at the pleasure of the President.

Harriet Miers' nomination was a warning sign. It definitely was a bad thing. But it is not IMO nearly the same thing as the US Attorney controversy.

At least half the people you mentioned were not "thrown under the bus" by Republicans. They were hurt by RINO's but supported by the vast majority of Republicans, both politicians and voters. Sen. Colburn has supported or would have supported all of them.

Democrats are the ones who circle their wagons around incompetent or corrupt politicians and officials. It would be stupid for us to follow that lead. A primary conservative principle is "the best person for the job." It is one reason we oppose affirmative action and unions. It is also a good principle to apply to our politicians and officials.

Gonzales should not be fired directly because of the attorney firings. There was nothing illegal nor unethical about what happened. However, Gonzales did show a huge amount of incompetence in this situation. It was not just his testimony or poor explanations. Hiring and firing of attorneys at this level is the primary responsibility of the A.G., yet Gonzales says that he was barely aware of the situation. This is simply incompetence and it is unacceptable for someone of this rank.

I don't care how the press or the Democrats spin this. They will spin it anyway. We need someone competent for Attorney General.

You are dead right and I'm so grateful to read another RS member articulating these points and making the case to the GOP to start fighting and quit giving the 'cry baby' opposition party more scalps just to placate them.

Bernard Goldberg's new book title sums it up nicley - Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right.

The only member of this party that has fought continually for the past 6 1/2 years has been President Bush, and he has had to rely on the shifting support of gutless people like Arlen Specter and John McCain.

I'm so sick of people abadoning our President. Amidsts their happiness over the Supreme Court's wise ruling in the Partial Birth Abortion issue, many forget that we have the President's steadfastness to thank for having Roberts and Alito on the bench.

Thank you, President Bush!

The gutless entities known as Senate Republicans can go eat sand for all I care. What losers!

Gonzales may be mediocre, but he has done nothing improper.

That said, it's crucial that Cabinet appointees can dish it out, but they certainly are going to take it. Gonzales doesn't and it shows. Powell didn't. Rumsfeld stood his ground every day. Cheney does. Ashcroft did most of the time (Plame being an exception).

The next president needs warriors. When I see strong folks in the 08 GOP candidates' inner circles, it's reassuring. So when one sees a Ted Olson or Steve Forbes or Miguel Estrada with Giuliani, or Al Haig, Phil Gramm and George Schultz with McCain, or Jim Talent with Romney, I am (very) cautiously optimistic that all these guys know how to play hardball.

except Rumsfeld, Lott and Gonzales. Lott displayed too many indications of borderline racism (among other things), Rumsfeld overstayed (among other things), and Gonzales mishandled the USA firings by initially misleading Congress about his role (among other things). You didn't mention Harriet Miers, but she should never have been nominated in the first place. In each of those cases, you do throw them under the bus in order to prevent the rest of the party from going under it as well.

I hate to admit it, but it is time for the AG to go. Join the conversation at: http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/04/alberto-gonzales-appears-on.html#...

With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see right.

I doubt that any Republican senators or representatives want to close any ranks around Gonzales. Senator Coburn said Gonzales should go publicly, but others are probably
saying it in private. Many are quietly going to get him to resign in the next couple weeks.

Republicans want to win future elections, not protect Bushies. They know that Gonzales is just another incompetent political apointee. The next Republican presidential candidate won't be defending the Bushies, either.

If you think this is disloyal....remember that politics is to get the most votes and be elected.

I would agree with Gonzales but he keeps leaping in front of the bus. He isn't holding his own. Like it or not being able to deal with the congress is part of his job description.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777

"Al Gonzales is not Daniel Webster, and he's not Pythagora. But he also doesn't have $90K in his freezer."

It couldn't be said any better.

"If Al Gonzales is chased out of office, it will be a resounding victory for the Democrats and the craven partisan press. They will be even further emboldened, and will continue to go after conservatives MUCH more worthy, intelligent, and competent than Gonzales."

Notice the parallel between this and the situation in Iraq?

Harry Reid on Iraq: “I say we’ve lost. Let’s bring our boys home in, oh, say 18 months. In the meantime, no more funding for them.”

Heading into it's final year, this administration is heading into lame duck season. Does the Attorney General really matter at this point.

Shame on any conservative who spends more time on Gonzalez than on the treason of Reid and the Democrats. Want someone to resign, let's start with Reid. May never happen, but let's expose this fraud for what he's become - a traitor.

I agree with this Mark Livin blog article. No one outside the beltway cares. Compared to Janet Reno, Gonzales is a star.

Levin on Gonzales

Everyone knows what's going on here. The Democrats, who started this, want Gonzales's head on a stake as another supposed example of administration corruption. They want the public to believe that the firing of these eight U.S. attorneys is the equivalent of Watergate. These are the same Democrats who defended Janet Reno to the end despite real malfeasance, including the Elian Gonzales disaster, the WACO massacre, and the deadly expansion of the legal wall between the CIA and FBI. In comparison, Gonzales is Oliver Wendell Holmes. But Republicans have had enough of him. They see him as incapable of defending himself, let alone advancing a conservative agenda. And they hope to replace him with someone more to their liking, which will never happen given this Senate. In the big scheme, none of this matters, and the public could care less. The president’s ratings aren’t affected by this. This is an inside-the-beltway manufactured scandal.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, indicated to CNN that he is ambivalent about the possibility that Gonzales might leave.

"If Al Gonzales were to quit tomorrow, it wouldn't end it. It would just, I think, add fuel to the fire, especially with Democrats controlling the Senate," he said.

"We'd have a confirmation hearing with the new attorney general, with a year and half left to serve in President Bush's second term in office. I think it would be more chaotic than it would if he were to stay and try to do the best job he can under very difficult circumstances."

I'll join the club!!! I'm sick of this too. You really did your homework.

And, thanks for your recommendation.

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As long as Democrats keep getting elected, conservatives will never get what they want.

To win the war on terror we first have to win the war against spineless appeasement liberalism at home.

Just because you have the right, doesn't mean you should.