THE GONZALES CIRCUS

By Bob Ward

Republican senators managed to head off the political pantomime Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called a “no confidence vote" aimed at Attorney-General Alberto Gonzales. The 53-38 tally was seven votes short of the 60 needed to pass the non-binding resolution.

Schumer had boasted that if the vote went against Gonzales he would no longer hold the office. This was empty bluster since the attorney-general does not work for the Senate and it is irrelevant whether the senators have “confidence” in him or not. The whole stunt was an amateurish attempt to conjure the image of a “no confidence” vote that occurs in European governments operating under a parliamentary system. In the U.S., the attorney-general is chosen by the President – with Senate confirmation – and serves until the President wants to replace him.

And the same goes for the U.S. attorneys whose firings by the President provided the pretext for the ongoing harassment of the Attorney-General. It’s true that Gonzales invited this treatment by trying to cover up his part in the firings and conceding the firings were “mishandled.” instead of standing up to the Democratic inquisitors and telling them flat out, “The President has the authority to replace the attorneys and he did, end of story, have a nice day.”

In fact, Gonzales, and other Republicans, should resist the impression, created by the media and encouraged by Gonzalez’ wimpiness, that the firing of the U.S. attorneys was “bungled” or “botched.” The attorneys are gone so obviously their firing was successful.

Republicans should also resist the pretensions of the Senate Democrats that they have some authority over these matters. They do not and their intrusion comes close to violating the principle of the separation of powers. They advance no public interest and are aimed only at creating the false impression the Bush administration acted illegally.

There is an upside to the Democrats’ antics. While they’re screwing around with pointless political gestures, they aren’t doing even more serious damage to the country by legislating.