None of these is a mistake, all were intended by the AG. Might he then regret one or more because of the WAY his intentions panned out, because he was caught out? Looks that way. But the decisions, no: no mistakes in his mind or his owners' minds. The choices for voting are poorly worded.

Posted by sloper at 03/13/2007

I feel that Gonzalez is getting a bum deal. Ed Meese and John Mitchell set such high standards for corruption, mendacity, and flagrant disregard for justice and the Constitution that it's simply unfair to expect Gonzalez to live up to them. He's tried, Lord knows. The torture thing was good; that would have given Meese an erection, no question. But the other stuff... small potatos. I mean, Mitchell went right out and committed felonies. I mean, there was a Mensch! Gross malfeasance by Republican Attorneys General is one of the most treasured Wingnut traditions; to expect a weenie like Gonzalez to carry the tradition forward with the elan of the giants of the past is just too, too much.

Posted by bookmanjb at 03/13/2007

Posted by BOOKMANJB 03/13/2007 @ 5:13pm

Sarcasm & eloquence of this summary are the sine quo non. All I can add is, "I associate myself with my esteemed colleague's remarks."

Posted by goyadad at 03/13/2007

Unusually for me, I missed the plurality on this one and voted for "His decision to remove," simply because that seems to have raised the biggest public/political stink. In fact, I think it's a sad commentary that his other policy failures DIDN'T raise a bigger public public/political outcry. And if I could add an item in the vein of "Leaving Texas," it would be "Befriending George W. Bush BEFORE leaving Texas."

Posted by w_m_bear at 03/13/2007

It's too bad Bush left, too. Crawford is missing it's idiot.

Posted by douginslc at 03/13/2007

There may be some good in all this. Bush may have had a positive impact on making minorities and protected classes more mainstream. In Afro-American Powell he had a man who totally betrayed his own ethics and principles. In Harriet Meirs, a woman of the 1950s in a 21st century job who screwed up. Religious congressmen have been shown to be gays. Now we have Gonzalez as a first rate, high echelon Latino screw up. Norman Mailer famously said he finally accepted the equality of women when he realized they were as despicable as men. With that in mind, Bush may have demonstrated that incompetence, ignorance and bigotry are not limited to white males. A blow struck for equality? By god I think we're making progress.

Posted by billheasf at 03/14/2007

What's so odd about a member of the Bush Crime Family committing crimes everyday? Just another day at the office. Gonzalez is a Bushite and PNAC wannabe. What else could we expect?

Posted by keymanwst at 03/14/2007

It kind of feels like window dressing...all of these "little" scandals, when it's only the tip of a huge iceberg that is the Bush Dynasty, all of it, from torture to this so-called War on Terrorism in order to grab war powers for an incompetent President that had no AGENDA until 9-11 happened on HIS WATCH. From this so-called "War on Terror" that everyone seems to have swallowed whole without questioning this insane verbage to unitary executive, torture, the PATRIOT act, stealing the election in the first place. It's just another day at the office since Bush got elected, why is anyone surprised by any of these things? Here's an administration that hates government, doesn't believe in government except as a vehicle to feed the war machine and big corporations. Why is anyone surprised? As Gore Vidal says, the Bushes hate the people. They are the aristocracy and resent even having to deal with "the people". They don't care about the troops dying, the Katrina victims, or anyone else. If you're not rich, you're out of luck.

Posted by denisec at 03/14/2007

Actaully I am from Texas and I am glad he is gone.

Posted by Bruceb61 at 03/14/2007

Actually I used leave Texas as all of the above, thank you very much.

Posted by samellison at 03/14/2007

Can't someone, somewhere, find evidence that the b@#$%!d is an illegal and send him packing back to some tiny village in the hills of Chiapas?? I don't even want him exiled back to Texas. They don't even deserve him.

Posted by gecko46 at 03/15/2007

Bush's minon, {who is Cheney"s minon} reminds me of Dracula's minon Renfeld...Does he eat flies? This whole swarm from Karl Rove on across makes us want to go shopping for Black Flag. Have they even heard of the Constitution or Bill of Rights? Let's get them out and resurrect our Democracy.

Posted by Cranston at 03/15/2007

You'll notice that the only people who didn't think his leaving Texas was a mistake are people from Texas.....

Posted by brantl at 03/15/2007

Wow !!! We had Watergate and BillyGate and LibbyGate and now it looks like we have ~ GonzalesGate

Now, you can be sure that someone will get going with a website and all the rest for http://www.GonzalesGate.com !! ;

Posted by GonzalesGate at 03/15/2007

At last on Gonzales they're finally raggin', After having fixed Scooter's little red wagon.

Posted by wm_o_bask at 03/15/2007

He is EVIL, just like Bush, Cheney, Rove and Rumsfeld! There is no other way to describe the actions of these people. We need to remove them all. Rummy is gone but we need to get rid of the rest.

Posted by Hernova at 03/16/2007

I think there are many, many reasons to say that having Alberto Gonzalez as AG was (is) a Big Mistake. For me, one of the things that has troubled me so much about Gonzalez is his inability to connect the fact that the policies of his Justice Department and Bush's Administration's are attacks against many of the reasons Gonzalez's and other people's ancestors came to the U.S.A. in the first place.

The irony of someone with immigrant roots that are so recent not seeing that those who suffer immensely from his policies are people who share much of his background has been troubling to me. It suggests, in my view, that his desire for power and prestige has blinded his ability to look into the past.

Whether we are talking about Jewish, Irish, Italian, Hispanic, or Muslim immigrants, the all share in their past (and all too often, present), the stigma and marginalization of being the 'other' in our society. The fact that Gonzalez seems to fail to appreciate this says much about the man, his 'conscience', and the thinking of this administration.

Posted by Rene at 03/16/2007

In leaving Texas, Gonzales threw in his lot irrevocably with a criminal mentality. Bush was known even then for using others as destructive tools and then destroying them; Gonzales had to have known he lacked the spine to stand up to Bush's character defects. Hence, he also guaranteed his ultimate place in history as front man for the cult of the New American Treason.

Posted by jnance at 03/16/2007

This man has no moral compass and almost no spine. Throwing in with George W. and his band of criminals could make him the first Attorney General to actually do jail time.

Posted by gwats1957 at 03/18/2007

Posted by KEYMANWST 03/14/2007 @ 07:10am | ignore this person

Could not have said it better. NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE, should really be suprised by AG's behavior. This is what the Bush regime stands for. Civil Liberties and Rule of Law mean nothing to these people. Power and Money are more important to this criminal gang than anything else.

Posted by POSEIDON at 03/18/2007

They must be impeached! One by one. Impeachment will set an example to other office seekers and holders that they are not above the law. There should not be federal buildings and libraries named after them. The generations that come after us must know that these politicians were fittingly rebuked for their actions against innocents and their corruption of the Constitution.

Posted by Dale-Z at 03/19/2007

Mexican illegal alien drug smuggler gets shot in the butt escaping back over the USA/Mexico border Bush wants to erase. Drug smuggler tells his Mom who calls wife of another US Border Patrol who tips off her stooge husband who calls Mexican Consulate which calls Rove who gets clearance from Bush and orders Gonzales to hammer these two American Border Patrol Officers because they have upset the Mexicans - Gonzales orders Sutton to do whatever is necessary to hammer the two USA Border Patrol Officers and get the Mexican Consulate and the Mexican Drug Lords off Bushs case. Gonzales follows orders from Bush/Rove to dump any District Attorney who dares to prosecute either Drug Lords or Illegal Aliens. All sound familier? Sound like the history of Compion and Ramos and others? Sound crooked? Sound like selling out the USA? Sound traitorous? Sound like just what Bush/Rove/Gonzales/Sutton might do? Did, in fact, do?........Duh, Yeah, you betcha

Posted by tucanofulano at 03/19/2007

That's what happens when you "serve at the pleasure of the president." A bunch of yes-men who circumvent their own responsibilities with no regard for the law.

Posted by fay1827 at 03/19/2007

I have been distrustful of Gonzalez from the first moment he stepped onto the national stage. When Bush was governor and Gonzalez AG for Texas, it was his job to prepare briefs on capital cases for the governor to raise any issues that might warrant a stay or commutation of a death sentence. Gonzalez never once found a reason to suggest a stay of execution, not even with glaring errors in due process for the convicted. These men are power hungry and heedless of the consequences of their actions. He is another case where loyalty was more important than competence, and I am glad to see him go.

Posted by steverus at 03/20/2007

Bush and the rest are responsible for the deaths of 9/11 and the deaths of almost a milion people in Iraq, Our Troops included. Now they are gasing our troops over there with Chlorine Bombs, just as our Government gassed our Vietnam troops with Agent Orange. And they have the nerve to say we are unpatriotic. These pricks need to be tried and found guilty of Treason, War Crimes, and Genocide just to name a few. I guess we can throw "False Imprisonment" in there as well. And someone better do it quick before they stage another attack in the US and they nuke Iran for it.

Posted by Knightmare at 03/20/2007

Impeachment would be too nice for these clowns. After it's all said and done I think they should take over their assets and distribute it back to the Taxpayers, The Patriot Act says it must be done. The Military Commissions Act gives us the right to Detain them indefinately amoung many other cruel things. After the sentence is imposed then we need to make the neccessary revisions to both acts so that our rights are restored! I cannot believe we were so blind for so long. It's terrible. Everything I have ever come to love about this Country in my lifetime is collapsing at an extremely fast pace, and it makes me want to puke. They have the nerve to call us Enemy Combatants? For the Love Of God!!! Get these morons out of here!

Posted by Knightmare at 03/20/2007

When presented with these choices in the 'Gonzales poll,' I actually froze - I couldn't decide. I finally decided to go with 'leaving Texas.' How can I make a choice between these evils?

The man has been chipping away at our Bill of Rights, our ethical standards, and our rule of law since he came to Washington. Someone from Texas will have to report on what he did to ruin your state - I only know what he has done to attack my country.

Personally, I'd like to see him rotting in a jail cell when this is over.

Posted by feduphoosr at 03/20/2007

First off, only the readers of the Nation could believe that every president since George Washington did not torture prisoners. Every administration uses torture when needed. The key is deny, deny, deny and then do whatever it takes to get the info to save American lives. As far as info from torture not being credible, only confessions will be false. Everything else can be verified. Every nation tortures its prisoners. Always have, always will. If you think differently it's because you never had a prisoner in front of you who had info that could save American lives. Gonzales's mistake was in admitting it.

He resigned today for many reasons. That W didn't fire him 6 months ago is because Bush is weak, insecure and a child in an adult's job. The reason Gonzales resigned now is that the powers that be, who run the White House, decided he was too much of a liability in coming elections so they finally got rid of him.

Posted by bean22 at 08/27/2007

>It suggests, in my view, that his desire for power and prestige has blinded his ability to look into the past.

Rene, you're reminding me also of Condi, and Justice Thomas! For Gonzo & Condi & Thomas alike, a self-disdain dressed up as "selfless devotion" to W has worked alongside their ambitiousness...

Posted by tohubohu at 08/27/2007

His biggest "mistake" is the one that caused his downfall – political interference in firing the US attorneys, because that was his only act sufficient to rouse congressional ire. Most of the congressional invertebrates have had nothing to say against torture and have supported suspension of habeas corpus. Screwing around with US attorneys, however, came too close to restricting their prerogatives for influencing the appointment of US attorneys.

Posted by sloper at 08/27/2007

Please add "being born" as an option.

Posted by BarackHussein at 08/27/2007

I'm just glad he is gone. What an embarassment. . . .

Posted by hhemwm at 08/27/2007

His biggest mistake? I'm sorry, I don't recall. I don't even recall recalling!

Posted by D1od1o at 08/27/2007

The biggest mistake that Alfredo Gonzalez ever made is the same mistake that 49%+ of Americans ever made. That mistake was ever meeting and believing a thing that a man named George Bush ever said.

Posted by rsharbutt at 08/27/2007

The biggest mistake that Alfredo Gonzales ever made is the same mistake that 49%+ of the American people made. That mistake is that they ever believed a word that an idiot named George Bush ever said. Alfredo Gonzales' failure was that he did not have the intellect to understand that Bush did not know he was lying.

Posted by rsharbutt at 08/27/2007

The president's own counsel (with the enthusiastic support of the president) brazenly making the "legal case" for torture has to be one of the lowest points to which this country has sunk. Mr. Gonzalez' shameful and wanton disregard for the US Constitution and other US laws is appalling, though it is also understandable when one considers those with whom he has been associated. Is there any longer a basis for the claim that America is a nation of laws? I think not, and particularly not since Richard Nixon declared the president to be above the law, and especially now, as George W. Bush lives out that precedent with the limp acquiescence of the "opposition party" Democrats.

Posted by dnmurchie at 08/28/2007