The Daily Background

At least 7 8 newspapers (some of them very major) are calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation over the US Attorney firing scandal:

The New York Times
The Sacramento Bee
The Buffalo News
Florida Today
The Washington Post
The Los Angeles Times
The Financial Times (UK)
The Louisville Courier-Journal

The WaPo went so far as to say Gonzales (or “Gonzo” as I understand we must now call him) is one of the absolute worst Attorney Generals the United States has ever had– period. The Chicago Tribune and Dallas Morning News apparently came close to calling for Gonzales to resign as well (more info over at Editor & Publisher).

Gonzales meanwhile was asked on CNN whether he should resign, and dismissed the question, saying “That will be a decision for the president of the United States to make.” The following exchange with CNN host Miles O’Brien followed:

O’BRIEN: But should you offer your resignation? Is it time for you to offer your resignation?

GONZALES: It’s the decision of the president of the United States to make. I’ll be focused on identifying what went wrong here and correcting those mistakes, and focused on the good for the American people.

O’BRIEN: The decision to offer your resignation is yours, is it not?

GONZALES: I’m focused on doing my job.

President Bush said from Mexico today: “I talked to him this morning… And we talked about his need to go up to Capitol Hill and make it very clear to members in both political parties why the Justice Department made the decisions it made, make it very clear about the facts, and, he’s right, mistakes were made. And I’m frankly not happy about them, because there is a lot of confusion over what really has been a customary practice by the president. U.S. Attorneys and others serve at the pleasure of the president.”

According to CNN, Gonzales will be on Capitol Hill this week (Friday?) and next week as well to try and placate concerns, though it does not seem this would be in the form of open hearings. The White House has made signs that it would not like to see Karl Rove testify under oath about the scandal.

On the other hand, the New York Times quotes an unnamed Republican close to the White House as saying “I really think there’s a serious estrangement between the White House and Alberto now.”

Filed under: Z-TDB Blog