Posted on 05/20/2007 10:33:51 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The top Republican on the Senate committee investigating Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Sunday he believes Gonzales could step down before a no-confidence vote sought this week by Senate Democrats.
Gonzales failed to draw a public statement of support from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (news, bio, voting record). Asked whether Gonzales effectively can lead the Justice Department, McConnell said "that's for the president to decide." The senator suggested there may be several resolutions introduced to dilute a no-confidence vote.
"In the Senate, nobody gets a clear shot," said McConnell, R-Ky.
Yet Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he believed a "sizable number" of GOP lawmakers would join Democrats in expressing their lack of confidence in the attorney general.
Five Republicans have urged Gonzales to resign over his firing of federal prosecutors, while several other Republicans have expressed criticism of his actions.
"Votes of no confidence are very rare," Specter said. "Historically, that is something which Attorney General Gonzales would like to avoid. I think that if and when he sees that coming, he would prefer to avoid that kind of a historical black mark."
The White House has called the upcoming vote a "political stunt" and said Gonzales retains President Bush's confidence.
Specter long has made it clear he believed the Justice Department no longer functioned well because of Gonzales' handling of the prosecutor firings and that as a result Gonzales would step down.
But Specter's comments Sunday raised the pressure on Gonzales and Bush, who has indicated Gonzales would not be leaving anytime soon.
Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record) of California said they will seek a vote on a nonbinding resolution as early as this week to express what senators of both parties have said for weeks: that Gonzales has become too weakened to run the department.
A no-confidence vote, though symbolic, probably would create trouble for Gonzales. Any attorney general needs to work with Congress on legislation, as well as nominees who require Senate confirmation. Gonzales would need to confirm a new deputy attorney general because his current one, Paul McNulty, is leaving over the firings of federal prosecutors.
Gonzales will be in Europe next week, visiting his counterparts in Hungary and Switzerland before joining a conference of leading industrial nations Thursday in Germany. He will be back in Washington on Friday — the night before the long Memorial Day weekend and a planned congressional vacation.
Specter and other senators said they were particularly troubled by testimony last week that Gonzales, when he was Bush's White House counsel, pressured then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to certify the legality of Bush's controversial eavesdropping program while Ashcroft was in intensive care.
In his testimony, former deputy attorney general James Comey said he thought the no-warrant program was questionable and violated the law. Gonzales and White House chief of staff Andy Card then headed to Ashcroft's sick bed at George Washington University Hospital in an unsuccessful bid to convince Ashcroft otherwise. The program was eventually certified after it was modified.
On Sunday, Schumer sent a letter to Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington, asking if they personally ordered Gonzales to Ashcroft's hospital room. When asked twice by reporters last week, Bush refused to answer.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), who is on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he did not believe that Gonzales acted illegally. If Bush chooses to support Gonzales, then senators should work on passing legislation such as immigration reform rather than playing "gotcha" games, said Graham, R-S.C.
"I want to focus on that, rather than pass a resolution, that's never been done in the history of the Congress, to play 'gotcha' politics with the attorney general," he said.
Specter appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," McConnell spoke on ABC's "This Week," and Graham was on "Fox News Sunday."
Just think now close Gonzales came to being the first Harriet Miers.
Most people don’t know that Gonzales, an Hispanic, has been the attorney general since 2005. They are just uninformed. Cabinet appointments mean nothing to the typical American today. Most couldn’t name more than two Cabinet members if their lives depended on it.
You are so right, and he goes after Hispanic Border Patrol agents just trying to do the job too. Pretty soon, no one will do the job as they learn where GWB really stands.
An incompetent, powerhungry mess.
You did, if you live in Pennsylvania.
The Republican voters of PA renominated Specter in a competitive primary, and the voters of PA then reelected him.
What's your point?
They do that every two years.
The ones who are in there now were just chosen in free elections, six months ago.
What's your point?
The present Congress had a 51% approval rating on Election Day 2006, which is all that matters.
They are the People's representatives, freely chosen in open elections. They have the right to exercise all the powers delegated to Congress until January 3, 2009.
What's your point?
My point is that Alberto Gonzales sucks.
You would think so, but the Republicans have little spine when it comes to shoving the rats in the face.
Alberto Gonzales=Harriet Meyers=Michael Brown=supporting Arlen Specter and Lincoln Chafee=No Child Left Behind=Medicare Part D=Fallujah=FEMA=Hillary.
Nice of you to greet a FReeper after 13 months, I think.
You forgot McCain-Feingold, and I had forgotten Michael Brown.
Whenever one sees the words “Republican” and “spine” in the same sentence, there is always the word “lack” in there somewhere. Maybe they are afraid of Katie Couric and Brian Williams.
The ones who are in there now were just chosen in free elections, six months ago.
::::
Yes, the people get the government they deserve. And half of them are too stupid to realize what their government is doing to them...the last election proved that.
That would be nice but ALBERTO is a good start - a pro-illegal alien dupe of the Administration.
Let George do it.
What is Spector getting for this intense push to get rid of Alberto? What bill is he pimping in the Senate???
Don't you find it a little ironic that a Congress, who have essentially received a no confidence vote from the public (28% approval rating) are having a no confidence vote on anyone else?
Also, since votes of confidence by Congress are so frequent, I can't recall the last time one was held.
If Jorge does it, its to save the butt of Carl Rove who probably made up the list, purely for political reasons.
In New Jersey, one of the AG’s scheduled to be axed was the HIGLY efficient and effective and loyal Bush supporting Republican Chris Christie. Christie has made a career out of rooting out official corruption in the Garbage State. He’s becoming a folk hero there. One of his most recent targets has been long-term state Senator Wayne Bryant, a Democrat who had multiple absentee jobs padding his retirement payroll and stands accused of using his position to help his law firm which nets him a fortune.
Christie, a popular guy in Jersey for his muck raking, has been rumored to be a possible for candidate for Governor to run against the incumbent Democrat Lying B@$t@rd Jon Corzine (otherwise know as “Daddy Warbucks”). My guess is Rove wanted to dump Christie to get an Hispanic appointed there as they have a large Hispanic population.
Increasingly, I’m beginning to think Rove is really running the show down there, calling the shots and Jorge just along with him. Gonzales is just a dupe, carrying out Rove’s directives - which are NOT in the best interests of the Republican Party OR of conservatives in general.
So what happened boyo’s? Seem the wishful thinking here didn’t come true this week? How could that be?
So what excuse do the propagandists give THIS week for blowing yet another “news” report?
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