…As Does List
of Senators Calling for Gonzales” Resignation
By Kenneth J. Theisen, 5/18/07
The number of U.S. prosecutors who were under consideration
for dismissal by the Bush regime kept growing this week as more and more names
were discovered in documents turned over to Congress. The number of Senators,
including Republicans, calling for Attorney General Gonzales” ouster also grew.
At least 30 U.S. Attorneys were put on Justice Department
firing lists between February 2005 and December 2006. There are only 93 U.S. Attorneys in total so
nearly a third were facing dismissal by the Bush regime. Nine were eventually
dismissed. Both Houses of Congress are looking into the firings. It appears
that loyalty to the Bush regime and it policies was the primary reason for the
dismissals.
On May 17, 2007 Senators Diane Feinstein and Charles Schumer
announced that they would propose a no-confidence in the Attorney General
resolution on the Senate floor soon. Only Bush has the actual power to fire
Gonzales but the resolution is meant to undercut support for the embattled
Attorney General.
As if the political outlook for Gonzales was not already bad
enough, still another Republican Senator called for his resignation. Senator Norm Coleman joined the growing
chorus of now six Republican Senators who have called for his resignation.
In another sign of eroding support, Republican Senator
Olympia Snowe, stated President Bush “should obviously seriously
consider” firing Gonzales over the recently revealed incident where
Gonzales went to the hospital bed of then Attorney General John Ashcroft in
2004 to get his agreement to continue the NSA’s surveillance operation. But
then Bush may have been involved in that visit.
On Thursday, he declined to comment as to whether he ordered Gonzales
and Andrew card to visit Ashcroft. (See “Bush
Continued NSA Spying Over Even Ashcroft’s Objections”)
As of the writing of this article, the White House media
team has not yet come out with its traditional, “the President has full
confidence in the Attorney General” statement. Maybe press spokesman Tony Snow
is getting tired of the same old refrain. Maybe he can practice the words, “the
President has reluctantly accepted the resignation of the Attorney General.”
[After I wrote the above article, the White House did make
the following statement, “A ‘no-confidence’ vote is nothing more than a
meaningless political act, not that that’s stopped them before. The attorney
general has the full confidence of the president.”]