Good Riddance, Sleazebake

First the sociopath Karl Rove, and now Skeevy Gonzales. The sun has not yet begun to shine, but the overcast has been reduced in thickness from 40 to 20 thousand feet. Now if Cheney would only get on with his promised heart attack, and the Democrats would find their spine we might be able to begin what promises to be a very long and incredibly expensive process of healing the wounds inflicted on our country and its institutions by this disastrous administration. (Actually, I'm wondering if there's really such a thing as the Democratic Party; maybe a better title would be "Not-Republicans." Far from bringing these malevolent incompetents to any kind of accounting for their sins, it's an open question whether Democrats in Congress can even muster enough unity to put a halt to W's next appointment. Still, I'll take fractious and slow-moving over train wreck any day.)

A commentator on the radio yesterday said that he believed Gonzales owed his job not to any demonstrated competence with Justice but to a political reward for what he called a "Baathist-like loyalty" to W. Indeed, in his exit speech, Gonzales thanked W above all for helping him to live "the American dream."

Skeevy and I seem to have quite different ideas about the American Dream.

You know, it bears repeating--for the billionth time--that these are the same Republican scumbags who succeeded in impeaching Bill Clinton for getting an extramarital blowjob in the Oval Office and then lying about it to a Grand Jury. Putting the two presidents up side by side and finding W the moral superior of the two requires some kind of ethical autism. Yet the conservatives among whom I work still spit in derision at the mention of Clinton's name (either Bill or Hillary; they're not particular), while finding the lying and manipulation and subterfuge engaged in by W and his advisers and cronies (to say nothing of the staggering body count) quite acceptable. This would be funny if there wasn't such a trail of wreckage in their wake.

Today's paper finds another prominent Republican--Idaho Senator Larry Craig--pleading guilty to disorderly conduct after trying to solicit sex from an undercover cop in a Minneapolis airport men's room in June. This would have no wider impact beyond the ignominy of a powerful elected official wandering astray if Craig were not an outspoken advocate of "conservative values" and one of Bush's lapdogs, loudly supporting a constitutional amendment denying marriage rights to gays and lesbians. (Apparently after he gets his oil changed he's fine being "just friends.") Oh, well. Looks like Mitt Romney will have to do without Craig's "services."

Here's hoping the hearings and investigations move forward, that these guys have their feet held to the fire for their actions, even if they're no longer running the show somewhere (well, I'm sure they're still bossing their wives--and boyfriends--around).