20070828 Gonzales and the D.C. sharks

Gonzales and the D.C. sharks

Jay Ambrose (read his brief bio here: Jay Ambrose Senior Fellow Independence Institute brief bio) has written an illuminating take on Alberto resigning as U. S. attorney general.

Hat Tip: Carroll County Times: Gonzales driven by beliefs By Jay Ambrose in the Sunday, September 02, 2007 publication of the paper

Gonzales and the D.C. sharks

Alberto Gonzales is resigning as U.S. attorney general, and here is what critics of all stripes are saying: He was blindly, brainlessly loyal to President Bush, gave atrocious advice, was an incompetent managerial mangler and klutzy in his own self-defense.

[…]

Where some critics go wrong is in supposing the Gonzales recommendations were nothing more than a lickspittle exercise of telling Bush what he wanted to hear. The assumption is that, for this hardworking son of a construction worker, being constantly in agreement was the loyal thing to do to a benefactor who as governor of Texas had appointed him to three top state positions and then, as president, brought him to Washington's upper echelons.

Gonzales has surely been loyal to Bush, but a better explanation of his advice comes from a supporter pointing to Gonzales' far-from-erroneous belief that the 9/11 attacks revealed a major security threat requiring different answers from what previously had protected the nation. It wasn't spineless groveling that brought him to some advice that, in the estimation of many, went much too far, but a sense of immense responsibility for keeping this nation safe.

The critics seem to me most amiss in applauding the all-out assault on Gonzales for the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. While there are hints of unethical doings here, that's about it: hints. Nothing illegal has been demonstrated, and it remains a fact despite leftist shoulder-shrugging that President Bill Clinton fired 93 U.S. attorneys as his political prerogative with scarcely a murmur of protest.

[…]

In the end, the Gonzales story seems one about a decent man who came to Washington not as a total innocent, but as someone who didn't know exactly what he was letting himself in for and without certain skills required for thriving or even surviving at top levels. He's headed elsewhere soon, but may find himself pursued by D.C. sharks intent on taking more bites out of his hide. That possibility speaks more poorly of the country's current political temper than it does of Gonzales.

Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers is a columnist living in Colorado.

Read the entire column here “Gonzales driven by beliefs By Jay Ambrose” on the Carroll County Times website or if you are reading this at a later date and the Carroll County Times’ link is dead – go here: Gonzales and the D.C. sharks