Toast
Posted on March 24, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 38 Comments
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales approved plans to fire several U.S. attorneys in a November meeting, according to documents released Friday that contradict earlier claims that he was not closely involved in the dismissals.
The Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Justice Department officials said late Friday.
So, is Wednesday a good day for a resignation? Wednesday, around 11am? I’m putting my marker down there. Anyone else?
Tuesday at 5:00pm
Heckuva job, Gonzo.
I still want Snidely Whiplash.
CosmicDog got my first pick, so I’ll go for Tuesday 4 PM EDT.
The thing is, I don’t think we’ll have a candidate as ethical as Mr. Whiplash for Gonzales’ successor. Sigh.
I’m thinking he’ll hold out for Thursday around 3pm…
But I gotta agree with Tania in that Mr. Gonzales’ successor is likely to be far less ethical than Mr. Whiplash…
Remember Brownie and Rummy? The moment Bushie gives you a public pat on the back saying you are doing a good job watch out for the dagger hidden behind the sleeves. I’ll give it some more time and I think the appropriate time and date is 12:01 am April 1st. That will be the best April Fool’s joke on the American people this year.
P.S. I hope the other “token” at the State Dep’t. also falls down the slot soon.
Good riddance.
Now, anyone have any ideas as for whom Bush will push for the new AG?
There’s a pool going at http://www.truemajority.org/gonzales/ for when he will resign. If you pick the correct day and time, you win a year’s supply of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
I picked Friday, March 30 at 3:00pm. March 30 because it’s my birthday, and that would be a great birthday present for me. 3:00pm on a Friday, because they’ll want to try to beat the news cycle, if they can. Late enough on a Friday and lots of people have no idea what’s going on over the weekend; by Monday the next scandal or terrorist attack can take over the spotlight.
I’m thinking Monday at 5PM. Just because I think he’ll want to get it done early.
Fridays/Weekends are soft days for news, correct? This needs some extra time to brew into a proper-scale shitstorm before he resigns. I call it Thursday at 11am.
Normally, I’d be with Burns! on the “bury it in the end of the news cycle,” but this seems like such a huge smoking gun. Gonzales would have the worst week imaginable if he tried to stay in office until Friday, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I think he’ll have a news conference on Monday morning, around 8:00am, hoping that most reporters are still in bed with a weekend hangover, and announce his resignation.
K
From Office Space:
Bob Slydell: No. No, of course not. We find it’s always better to fire people on a Friday. Studies have statistically shown that there’s less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week.
Friday – 1:00 p.m ;)
Friday at 4pm.
Wish he’s take his boss with him.
Monday morning at the White House:
KARL ROVE: Hi, Gonzo. How’s it going?
GONAZALES: Wh-Wh-Where’s my red Swingline stapler?
ROVE: Listen, Gonzo, I’m gonna a need you to go ahead and move your desk down to the basement. Oh, and while you’re at it, could you take care of the White House cockroach problem?
GONZALES: B-b-but I th-th-thought Don Rumsfeld quit.
ROVE: THanks a bunch, Gonzo. [Walks off] Condi! How’s it –
RICE: Not now, Karl. I got a meeting with the Bobs.
Said Deputy Attorney General Scooby Doo when informed of his boss’s pending demise at the White House, “Ruh roh!”
*I’m* the decider. *I* decide.
Tuesday, noonish.
So, over here in Canuckland, our government is distributing election pamphlets in the form of $20, $50 and $100 bills. (And given how weak the US dollar is internationally, jokes about the relative worth of the $CDN just aren’t that funny anymore.)
If they are going to let him go, they’ll do it Friday at 4:00 pm – so that it will end up being forgotten over the weekend.
The Bush administration know how to manage their news.
Interesting to note that the same day the Pentagon finally acknowledged that Iraq is embroiled in a civil war, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to 34 acts of terror (including the abduction of Jon Benet Ramsey). That quietly swept the Pentagon report under the rug.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Tuesday, some shock news release about some farmer being held in guantanemo bay having a secret nuclear reactor in his chicken shed and planning to blow up Kansas. Tuesday afternoon ten minutes after this shock revelation a resignation, tuesday evening an increase in the terrorist alert ratings due to a Godzilla sighting off of California.
It seems to me that politicians need to learn that when they are caught engaging in dealings that might be questionable, it’s best to come forward with all the information at once rather than attempt to hide it through obfuscation, denial and attempts to deal with the matter in private, closed circles – which, when one is later firmly caught out, makes one appear even more guilty and suspicious.
For sheer persistence, I’ll make it another week. A *week* from Wednesday for resignation.
It worked for Clinton to delay.
5:00 is too early, it might still make the evening news. 5:45 seems to be GWB’s time slot of choice.
Wonder if ole Alberto will have a different outlook on the Patriot Act and those wire taps when he’s on the outside – and the FBI is reading his mail and NSA is listening to his phonecalls.
Sucks to be a just a regular citizen in America these days, don’t it, Alberto. Bet you wish you hadn’t shit all over the Constitution now, don’t you? Better hope you don’t piss off the HOMESEC gestapo, you might end up in some secret CIA prison in Bulgaria…
Saturday March 31, 7 pm PDT.
That’ll be after a week of orchestrating, noises of special prosecutors being appointed, and mystic consultations with the Ghost of RMN, who will be issuing deeply annoyed noises at GWB’s total incompetence.
(Yes, I had a moment of cognitive dissonance when I heard Fred Fielding being quoted as White House counsel one morning this week at 6 am as I was driving off to work…)
Monday at 10am. Time enough for a good labasting on the Sunday morning talking heads show. Everybody will be up, showered, and have their first coffee. Fox News will have it’s spin graphics and talking bobs in place. All will be ready. Then at noon the Pentagon will announce that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping.
Say, anybody else hear our former UN Ambassador, Mr. “Rolling” Bolton, talk about how the US intentionally blocked for two-weeks a cease-fire in Lebanon last summer to give the Israelis time to kill more people and displace thousands? So, how did that Great Game turn out for England? There’s a word for people like that. Sociopath is the technical term, the other term starts with “heinous” and ends with “tard.”
What? He hasn’t resigned yet???
Thursday, 5pm — As soon as the taping of the week’s final episode of The Daily Show is over and Jon Stewart can’t possibly make fun of the decision until the following Monday, by which time something else will have come up to be the lead story.
Oh, this is a rough one to predict.
On the one hand, Bush’s chances of getting another loyal hack confirmed as AG are minimal.
On the other, the longer Gonzales hangs on, the more interest there is in the story. The more interest there is in the story, the more people will follow the trail of where it leads.
There are things the Bushies don’t want a spotlight on. Here’s one: Karl Rove drew up a list of which states were likely to be pivotal in the 2008 race. There were 11 states on his list. The USA was fired and replaced in 9 of them.
Can you say “vote fraud”? Ol’ Karl’s looking to steal another Presidential election, with loyal USAs already in position to make sure there’s no investigation when Democratic voters are removed from the registration rolls and/or Democratic votes aren’t tabulated.
That’s the story the Bushies don’t want followed.
If Gonzo’s gone, interest in the story dries up.
I think the importance of fixing the 2008 election will override everything else. So, yeah, I figure Gonzales will be out… next Monday, April 2.
As noted above, on a Friday past the 5:30 CST so the major network news can’t pounce, Olbermann won’t have time to prepare, and CNN will roll over and ask the White House to scratch its belly.
FWIW, y’all might want to wander over to Findlaw and Daily Kos to check out John Dean’s writings. Dean wrote an interesting article yesterday where he concludes that Karl Rove will go to jail for contempt, but fingers Harriett Miers as the possible whistleblower on the current administration.
Takes one to know one, y’know?
And at Kos, (at least as of 3:30 pm 3/24), the discussion between Kossacks, Bob Altimeyer (The Authoritarians) and Dean is still on the recommended list. Well worth it.
I say leave everyone where they are for the next 21 months with the caveat that they sit down and shut up. Don’t let any of these dumbasses do anything. We the people need a little time to sort through this mess and fix things.
John H , “He hasn’t resigned yet???”
While members of the current administration have heard the term, “falling on one’s own sword” they didn’t study that in school, so they forgot that one had to actually fall on the point of the sword instead just admiring the sharpness of the sword.
Kristine
You might just get your wish…
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2980019
This will be the topping on top of the gravy that will make it more delicious.
Well, 8am Monday has come and gone, as has my guess as to his resignation. I still think he’ll be out by the end of this week, though.
K
Take your betting up a notch, and maybe win a year’s worth of free ice cream:
http://www.truemajority.org/gonzales/index.php
For the record, I think it’s still going to be sometime next week, just before Easter so it will get buried more easily. Thurs, Apr. 5 at 10 am is my guess.
My first instinct was to go for late afternoon on Friday, as well. However, if the Bushies want to scapegoat Gonzales for this, they’ll want to push the publicity of his resignation in an attempt to make people believe it’s all over now, nothing to see here, moving on…
So, my vote is Wednesday, 2pm EDT.
This downfall of the AG has a lot of implications.
The President insists that his close aids not testify in Congress under oath or with a transcript. I understand: Libby was just convicted for lying, Bush himself lied us into a Civil War, now the AG is know to have lied. Why should we believe anyone in this administration?
Never in our history have we had an administration
so corrupt. Democrats should in 08 run on the promise to bring integrity back to the Whitehouse.
Which, oddly enough, was what the Republicans ran on in 2000.
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