Sunday Discussion Group

Despite the latest revelations that Alberto Gonzales lied about his involvement in the prosecutor purge, the President is standing by his Attorney General. I’m wondering if he’s the only one.

I was reading several conservative blogs yesterday to gauge their support for the embattled AG. I was surprised to see so many who have decided that Gonzales is no longer deserving of support.

Ed Morrissey:

Have we had enough yet? I understand the argument that if we allow the Democrats to bounce Gonzales, they’ll just aim for more, but Gonzales made himself the target here with what looks like blatant deception. I don’t think we do ourselves any good by defending the serially changing stories coming out of Gonzales’ inept administration at Justice. One cannot support an Attorney General who misleads Congress, allows his staffers to mislead Congress, and deceives the American people, regardless of whether an R or a D follows his name or the majority control of Congress.

Right Wing Nut House:

I will brook no excuses by commenters that Gonzalez “misspoke,” or “forgot,” or “got a note from his mother” that gave him permission to lie, or other excuses from the ever dwindling number of Bush diehards who visit this site . He is the frickin’ Attorney General of the United States fer crissakes! If there is anybody in government who needs to tell the truth, it is the guy responsible for enforcing the laws of land.

Jonah Goldberg:

Some readers are cross with me for using the word “lied” in reference to Gonzales. Okay, he may simply have been deeply, deeply, confused, out of touch and unprepared to give a press conference which was supposed to put an end to the “scandal” and instead poured gasoline on it at a time when his boss, the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief, had vastly more important things to deal with.

There are, of course, many more. Considering that many of the same conservatives who now have little use for Gonzales were defending him up until fairly recently, are we starting to see the bow break?



As is usually the case, the White House has decided that the key to enduring a serious scandal is maintaining the support of far-right allies. Indeed, the more Rove & Co. can characterize the controversy as a Dems vs. GOP, left vs. right, affair, the easier it will be to persevere.

But are we finally looking at a scandal that even Bush loyalists can’t defend? Gonzales having been caught in a new mess may be a turning point, as evidenced by the blogs’ reaction noted above, but the writing has been on the wall all week.

* A half-dozen congressional Republicans, including one (ostensive) presidential candidate, have joined Dems in calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ ouster.

* Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sided with Dems on White House subpoenas, and Arlen Specter kinda-sorta agreed.

* A Republican leadership staffer told Roll Call this week, “We are not throwing ourselves on the grenade for them anymore. There’s now an attitude of ‘you created this mess, you’ve got to get yourself out of it.'”

After watching conservatives back Bush on everything from Iraq to Plame to illegal NSA wiretaps to Katrina, have we finally found the one thing the right isn’t willing to defend? And if so, isn’t it safe to assume the political pressure on the White House will be even more intense?

And if that’s so, exactly how bad is this going to get for the Bush gang?

Discuss.