Why go to the mat for Alberto Gonzales? Co-dependency, of course

frank rich agrees with me, or i agree with frank rich, take your pick...

[W]hy go to the mat for Alberto Gonzales? Even Bush loyalists have rarely shown respect for this crony whom the president saddled with the nickname Fredo; they revolted when Bush flirted with appointing him to the Supreme Court and shun him now. The attorney general's alleged infraction -- misrepresenting a Justice Department purge of eight U.S. attorneys, all political appointees, for political reasons -- seems an easy-to-settle kerfuffle next to his infamous 2002 memo dismissing the Geneva Conventions' strictures on torture as "quaint" and "obsolete."

That's why the president's wild overreaction is revealing. So far his truculence has been largely attributed to his slavish loyalty to his White House supplicants, his ideological belief in unilateral executive-branch power and, as always, his need to shield the Machiavellian machinations of Karl Rove (who installed a protege in place of one of the fired attorneys). But the fierceness of Bush's response -- to the ludicrous extreme of forbidding transcripts of congressional questioning of White House personnel -- indicates there is far more fire to go with all the Beltway smoke.

i've been saying the very same thing since this story broke... with gonzales gone, bush would have his entire flank exposed... gonzales is a critical element of protection for george, and, as rich speculates, bush is a critical element of protection for gonzo... it's the worst kind of co-dependency and co-dependency always ends badly...

Submit To Propeller
Tweet