Gonzales Gone

How bad is it inside the White House? In a matter of weeks the President loses his two most trusted friends and advisers, Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales. The two men who have done the most inside the administration - aside from the Vice President - to turn the entire federal government into a political arm of the Republican Party. Gonzales may be the most inept and dishonest Attorney General the country has ever known.

So now it will be interesting to see if the President chooses to nominate a replacement who will have to go through Senate confirmation, or if he will try and skirt the confirmation process in some way and ride out the rest of his term with an acting AG. And if he does nominate someone for confirmation it will be interesting to see if the Dems in the Senate show any spine and refuse to confirm anyone who is a pal or member of the President's political circle. The possible nomination of Homeland Security head Michael Chertoff, for instant, should be dead in the water. We need an outside, independent, widely trusted nominee.

The President has just said that it is "sad that the good name of Alberto Gonzales has been dragged through the mud for political reasons." This man has completely mastered the skill of speaking bald-faced lies with a straight face.

Update: Via Talking Points Memo the best quote so far on the Gonzales legacy:

...from Rep. Rahm Emmanuel (D-IL): "Alberto Gonzales is the first Attorney General who thought the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth were three different things."