Gonzales Resigns

For those of you who slept late, embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has announced that he will resign from his post effective September 17.

Republicans and Democrats alike had demanded his departure over the botched handling of FBI terror investigations and the firings of U.S. attorneys, but President Bush had defiantly stood by his Texas friend for months until accepting his resignation last Friday.

"After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position and I accept his decision," Bush said from Texas, where he is vacationing.

Solicitor General Paul Clement will be acting attorney general until a replacement is found and confirmed by the Senate, Bush said.

When I saw the report on the news early this morning, I had the quirky thought that if president isn't tired of annoying the Republican base, he could nominate Harriet Miers for the post. It turns out that I might have had the right idea in mind, if the wrong person.

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was among those mentioned as possible successors, though a senior administration official said the matter had not been raised with Chertoff.

Yes, the same Michael Chertoff who asserted that opponents of the Comprehensive [Illegal] Immigration Reform wanted nothing less that the death penalty for all illegal immigrants and who uses "his gut" to determine whether we will experience another terrorist attack or not.

I hope that the Chertoff speculation was merely that of AP.

If we really want to talk about quirky nominations for AG, the White House could do worse in nominating another AP (Allahpundit; a lawyer) to fill the post. That ought to get the jihadis in an uproar; not necessarily a bad thing. :-)

UPDATE: Ugh. Chertoff as AP isn't merely press speculation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush may nominate Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General, senior administration officials told CNN Monday.

Comments

[JoeP]

Agreed (on Chertoff being a horrible choice).

[Brian H]

In defense of the "gut": As an expression, refers to use of the full range of personal intuitions and awareness. Face it, if there were a mathematical or situational formula or algorithm to do the prediction, it would be in use. Otherwise, human judgment is indispensable and unavoidable.

And it's proven that an expert's gut is more reliable than any formulaic process or AI projections.

[baldilocks]

Brian, I know what using one's "gut" means.

However, I'd prefer that a SECDHS use more concrete methods of determining whether terrorists are on the move or not. I'm not interested in having Miss Cleo in the position.

[Walter E. Wallis]

I nominate Rove.

[Tully]

Ted Olson. Just try savaging him during confirmation hearings.

He'd walk in.