March 28, 2007
Someday this cover-up plan is going to work like gangbusters
“Yeah we done it!”
That’s all they would have had to say back when this whole thing started and there’d be little for people to be talking about now.
Congress would not be set to hold hearing on this with subpoenas at the ready and witnesses pre-pleading The Fifth, if only Alberto Gonzales, Our Fine President and their assorted accomplices and underlings had just come out from the start saying, “Yes, we fired several federal prosecutors for purely political reasons. There is no law against this, we strongly believe that our leadership is the best thing for this country and we feel this move helps secure our leadership while providing high quality law enforcement for the American people.”
I’d still think they were full of shit, crooked and absolutely wrong for the country, the world and possibly outer space if they ever get up there like they want to. They’d be right that while their actions and schemes were in direct opposition to the spirit of their beloved democracy, they were technically not illegal. Personally, I’d disagree with the last few parts of that statement, but that’s all opinion and what they feel, and in our free society we have the right to be delusional if we so choose. It’s just a shame when so much power is invested in someone with such delusions.
If their response had been honest about their motives up front people would have complained, Congress would have repealed the Presidential power allowing unconfirmed attorney appointments and plenty of people would have lamented the latest tragedy of politics and incumbency from leaders who work hardest at rigging the system to preserve their power instead of insuring their re-election by doing the will of the majority of the voting public.
But with upfront honesty, there would be nothing left to investigate. As reprehensible as it is to bring politics into the way laws are enforced, the only crimes that might come of all this would be for people saying they weren’t involved in the firing when they were, or claiming the attorneys were let got for poor performance. This whole thing could have faded from the headlines like all the other scandalous things Gonzales has been behind.
Yet some people never learn that when you’re caught, the cover up usually just makes things worse. Every time this administration gets caught doing something they don’t want to be publicly connected to they’ve lied, some junior partner’s been fired or resigned and they’ve moved on.
Yet even with Scooter Libby facing jail time for the last time they tried this game, they went to the well yet again. Libby was wrung up on the only real investigation done into one of their minor discretions. Did they really think an opposition Congress with investigative powers was going to let everything pass like their Republican buddies did for the past six years?
Now it looks very likely that Gonzales will resign. He comes off badly either way he tries to play it now. He’s either a liar in front of Congress and the American people or an incredibly ineffectual manager who clearly has not demonstrated the oversight ability to manage an unwieldy organization such as the Justice Department. If he’d just told the truth up front he’d still be the despicable jerk with no respect for democratic principles or human rights that we’ve come to know these past few years.