Add Norm Coleman and Kit Bond to the anti-Gonzales list
I think this brings us to eight(?) Republican Senators calling for Gonzales to resign. (Spector, Smith?, Hagel, Sununu, Coburn, McCain.)
And, there are several others who have suggested it,
While a no confidence vote may be made to appear political and peel off some of these votes, with this many Republican Senators on the record, you must imagine the depth of the not on the record sentiment.
On Wednesday, "MR. SNOW: Well, again, Jim Comey gave his side of what transpired that day. The President still has full confidence in Alberto Gonzales."
You just have to wonder how long this can go on.
(Question: Would the White House rather have the focus on Gonzales or risk having the focus turn to Rove or the war?)
"I would hope that the attorney general understands that the department is suffering right now, and he does the right thing, and that is allows the president to provide new leadership," Coleman told reporters on a conference call.
And, there are several others who have suggested it,
Pat Roberts: "When you have to spend more time up here on Capitol Hill instead of running the Justice Department, maybe you ought to think about it."
Olympia Snowe said Bush "should obviously seriously consider" firing Gonzales over the 2004 (Comey/Ashcroft) incident.
Jeff Sessions and Lindsey Graham have all made it clear that they wouldn't exactly be unhappy if the attorney general decided it was time for him to go.
Joining Hagel in demanding Gonzales' resignation are GOP Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and John McCain of Arizona, who is a presidential candidate.
While a no confidence vote may be made to appear political and peel off some of these votes, with this many Republican Senators on the record, you must imagine the depth of the not on the record sentiment.
On Wednesday, "MR. SNOW: Well, again, Jim Comey gave his side of what transpired that day. The President still has full confidence in Alberto Gonzales."
You just have to wonder how long this can go on.
(Question: Would the White House rather have the focus on Gonzales or risk having the focus turn to Rove or the war?)
posted by mikevotes at
7:45 AM
4 Comments:
Gonzales is not going to resign or be fired. That would require a Senate confirmation and there is absolutely no way that is going to happen with the Dems in power. There's way too much illegal activity with the AG and Executive branch that they have to keep a lid on.
It's easy for the GOPhers to call for Gonzales head but it's just not going to happen.
By
matt, at 10:00 AM
That's a very strong point.
But, that would also mean the White House would be giving up a bargaining chip in every discussion with Congressional Republicans.
And, confirmation would definitely be tricky, but if they brought someone in from the outside, they could plead ignorance backed with a promise to clean things up and act ethically once in office.
I tend to agree with you at this point, why would the White House hang on so long if they were going to dump him.
The one thing is, though, that although they're taking hits on this, the polling shows that their backers are on their side unlike some other issues they don't want to talk about.
By
mikevotes, at 10:49 AM
Didn't Bush have full confidence in Wolfowitz too? How bad can one person's judgement be?
By
Lew Scannon, at 5:00 PM
This far in, and you have to ask?
By
mikevotes, at 6:16 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home