Baltimore Sun: Congress Must Stop Bush
Baltimore Sun
Stooge
Editorial
July 31, 2007

A politically weakened, lame duck president may not be able to bring competing forces together to shape new policies or lasting achievements, but he can stubbornly protect a stooge of an attorney general almost indefinitely.

If consequences to his party are not a concern - nor the morale of a Justice Department widely viewed as dysfunctional - President Bush's refusal to fire the incompetent, prevaricating Alberto R. Gonzales serves Mr. Bush by drawing attention away from his own shortcomings.

Ideally, Senate Republicans, who have much to lose by this tawdry spectacle dragging out further, will prevail upon Mr. Gonzales, Mr. Bush or both to clear the way so the post of top law enforcement officer can be filled with someone who commands the nation's respect - instead of a political flunky concerned only with shielding his patron.

Should the GOP senators falter, the best of the remaining options appears to be naming a special prosecutor to investigate Mr. Gonzales to determine whether his many misstatements can be prosecuted for perjury.

That decision would apparently be made by Solicitor General Paul Clement, the third-ranking official at Justice, who already has such a request before him. Mr. Gonzales and his departing deputy, Paul McNulty, have quite properly recused themselves.

So far, at least, Mr. Bush hasn't tried to tie Mr. Clement's hands by decreeing the subject of Mr. Gonzales' statements to be a matter of executive privilege and thus off limits for further inquiry - as he has with other aides.

Instead, the White House is trying to spare Mr. Gonzales from perjury charges by leaking a story to explain the inconsistencies in the attorney general's contention that a secret program of wiretapping Americans without a warrant was not the subject of an internal Justice Department dispute.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey both disputed that account, but all the public testimony on the issue has been cast in vague terms. Thus, Mr. Gonzales' defense is expected to be that he was referring to another secret program of mining Americans' phone records and e-mails, also without court permission.

Such hair-splitting wouldn't absolve the attorney general from a clear intention to deceive Congress about his department's doubts about the surveillance program, nor does it explain Mr. Gonzales' false or misleading testimony on other issues, such as his involvement in the political firings of U.S. attorneys and his knowledge of Patriot Act abuses by the FBI.

Meanwhile, in the midst of this constitutional crisis, the White House had the nerve to ask Congress to quickly approve an expansion of its surveillance powers before the lawmakers take off next week for a monthlong recess. Once again, the administration appears to be playing the terror card as a diversionary tactic.

The stakes could hardly be higher in Mr. Bush's attempt to subvert the constitutional separation of powers. He must not be allowed to turn Congress' response to this power grab into a mere political sideshow.

Original Text