Comments (21)

nofltwlt wrote on August 27, 2007 9:26 AM:

Any nominee must be vetted by Congress. Since Bush will nominate some nefarious hack, as he always does, he will likely be without an AG for the remainder of his term.

dented palm tree in Clearwater FL. wrote on August 27, 2007 9:48 AM:

Bonnie the runner-up from Hell's Kitchen is looking for a gig !!!!

PJ White wrote on August 27, 2007 10:01 AM:

I want Comey, an incredibly honest, honorable man.

Buckhead wrote on August 27, 2007 10:05 AM:

I'll second the vote for Bonnie. if ever there was an exec branch department that needed a nanny, it's DoJ. Plus, she can cook...

Anonymous wrote on August 27, 2007 10:10 AM:

Huh. Why are they jumping to the third in command as acting? Doesn't Clement already have a job? Is the first assistant spot even filled?

TripMaster Monkey wrote on August 27, 2007 10:14 AM:

nofltwlt sez:Any nominee must be vetted by Congress.

Two words. Recess appointment.

tgr wrote on August 27, 2007 10:14 AM:

I would love to agree with noflwlt above. However, Leahy's lame performance with regard to pursuing recent subpoenas, (never mind Specter's vacillation) doesn't give me much confidence that any sort of confirmation hearing would be the necessary bloodbath that's required to purge the ongoing DoJ infection.

Anonymous wrote on August 27, 2007 10:26 AM:

Who could have seen a recess appointment coming? How could Reid possibly stop it?

The Democrats are helpless. Don’t blame them.

KYJurisDoctor wrote on August 27, 2007 10:32 AM:

Here's my pick as a replacement.

http://osi-speaks.blogspot.com/2007/08/breaking-news-us-attorney-general.html#links

Frank Rizzo wrote on August 27, 2007 10:40 AM:

Bush will appoint a competent attournay general who will prosecute his former cronies as quickly as possible. They will all plead guilty to some charge and Bush will immeediately issue presidential pardons. He's done it for the Plame affair in the past... he wants to try and get them off the hook somehow... that's why all of the resignations are happening now.

Frank Rizzo wrote on August 27, 2007 10:40 AM:

Bush will appoint a competent attournay general who will prosecute his former cronies as quickly as possible. They will all plead guilty to some charge and Bush will immeediately issue presidential pardons. He's done it for the Plame affair in the past... he wants to try and get them off the hook somehow... that's why all of the resignations are happening now.

Peter Duffy wrote on August 27, 2007 10:44 AM:

Orrin Hatch would walk through an old buddy talkfest (Senate Confirmation), whereas a Chertoff nomination would involve hearing(S) for him and his nominee successor....
but then Bush may decide to UNresign Gonzo and fool us all.

lawguy wrote on August 27, 2007 10:53 AM:

Upon Gonzales's departure, the top official in DOJ who has been confirmed by the Senate will be the #4 guy, S.G. Paul Clement. The #2 and #3 offices - Deputy and Associate A.G., respectively - are held by non-confirmed "acting" officials. By regulation, or something, the person who is acting head of DOJ (and maybe any cabinet agency) has to be Senate-confirmed.

PJ White wrote on August 27, 2007 10:55 AM:

Unfortunately, I must agree with Mr. Rizzo's comments re: presidential pardons. The Dems should drag out the proceedings as long as possible, perhaps even AFTER Dumbya leaves office. Then he couldn't pardon anyone. I would love to see all these criminals bastards, especially Bush and Cheney, in prison forever. They have the blood of hundreds of thousands of people, and the desecration of the Constitution on their filthy hands.

Cmdr. Swift wrote on August 27, 2007 10:58 AM:

Look up Chertoff and Noahide laws to find out why there are guillitines in the Halliburton camps.

Kurt Nimmo for Chertoff's threat to States last week if they do not force people to carry the National ID.
Time to email Senator Reid, folks!

Here is the address, mine is on its way already
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm

NO RECESS APPOINTMENT:

AG Gonzales Has resigned.
Anticipating a possible AG resignation, Senator Reid Negotiated with the White House prior to Summer recess to ensure that there would be no recess appointments.

There'll be no recess appointments this time around, Roll Call reports (sub. req.), meaning the White House won't be taking advantage of Congress' vacation to install any contested nominees. That's due to a deal between Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).

This deal must be enforced.

Now that Gonzales is gone, the Confirmation of a new AG by the Senate must include concessions that the replacement AG will facilitate investigations of the:

Prosecutor Purge Scandal
Warrantless Wiretap Scandal
Hatch Act Violations
Executive Obstruction
Contempt of Congress

There must be no sneaky recess appointments of another loyal Bushie in this important position.

Actually, Forget the Deal, it was probably made in bad faith.

Reid should immediately proclaim Summer Recess ended and return to work on a new AG deal to move the myriad investigations forward.

The scandals and cover-up should end here, and the Senate with confirmation oversight should ensure this to be the case.

Gonzo is gone When will dubya and cheney have the decency to resign?___ Alas, it appears to be a done deal.

It's being reported that SG Paul Clement will be named interim AG. I suspect this was worked out with Reid over the weekend. Just sad.____We'll see how committed old Harry is to opposing this criminal

administration. Either they stop a recess appointment or they allow cheney to put in another puppet and start this shit all over again.____Doesn't have to be Reid, a local Senator can handle it

You have Webb, Mikulski, and Cardin locally.

scavok wrote on August 27, 2007 10:59 AM:

Chertoff has probably torpedoed his changes as AG with his recent passport to get into National Parks remarks. The confirmation hearings would also have to focus on his many failures, especially Katrina.

Clement has been running the show for a while now while Gonzo tried to extricate himself. My money is on Clement.

slowpitch wrote on August 27, 2007 11:09 AM:

I'm pretty sure he said that the resignation was effective Sept 5, and since Congress comes back in, there shouldn't be room for a recess appointment even if Bush wanted to... right?

McCoy wrote on August 27, 2007 11:42 AM:

It's obvious - this is timed to take away from the Betrayus Report due next month. The press will focus on obvious loser Chetroff - and will skip the in-depth analysis needed to be performed on this report.

Anonymous wrote on August 27, 2007 11:56 AM:

Reid has to go very public with Bush's promise not to make a recess appointment.

Mark F. wrote on August 27, 2007 12:21 PM:

"Any nominee must be vetted by Congress."

Not if the president makes a recess appointment. Write to Harry Reid. Tell him to make sure that doesn't happen.

The Oracle wrote on August 27, 2007 9:57 PM:

Why would any patriotic American citizens trust Chertoff anymore than they'd trust outgoing AG Alberto Gonzales?

The Department of Homeland Security under Chertoff has been just as politicized as the Justice Department under Gonzales, turning both of them into political arms of the worst administration in American history.

Chertoff's name is being tossed around as a possible replacement for Gonzales because Chertoff at DHS has been rubber stamping criminal acts by the Bush administration just as Gonzales at Justice has...which, in the minds of certain "culture of corruption" Republicans, makes him the perfect "puppet" candidate to replace the soiled "puppet" AG, Alberto Gonzales.