Goodbye Gonzo, Hello ...

Liberals across the country are rejoicing at Alberto Gonzales' resignation, and sure, it's good, but who will take his place? Will s/he be any more competent or apolitical? Perhaps there is hope, as Donald Rumsfeld was replaced with Robert Gates. Although, perhaps that wasn't even that great. Was there any significant policy change after Rumsfeld left? Not as far as I can tell. So, the best we can expect from Gonzo's replacement is probably a competent person who will forward irrational policies. After all, the Bush Administration will not all of a sudden insist on an apolitical Justice Department (and I doubt that any modern administration would). So, is Gonzo's ousting worth celebrating?

Maybe for a little, sure. Even if nothing changes, at least the point has been made that incompetent hacks do not deserve to sit in high governmental positions. That certainly doesn't mean that any lesson has been learned, though. I think the Bush administration is incapable of learning from mistakes, because they are incapable of admitting mistakes. So, here's what I expect in Bush's nominee: a political clone of Gonzo (who is really just a political clone of Bush), but with better credentials. I suppose that's a step in the right direction.

P.S. I apologize for my absence from blogging. I will do my best to post at least a few times a week during the next few months.

Cindy Sheehan to Take On Nancy Pelosi

Apparently the famous (or obnoxiously infamous) anti-war has decided to run against Nancy Pelosi as an Independent in the next election. See ABC News. Why? Because Pelosi has wrongly taken impeachment of the table. Fair enough; maybe it shouldn't be off the table, but there is a rather large problem with running a one-issue campaign and making that issue impeachment.

The next House election is in 2008, when there also happens to be a presidential election. The newly elected Congress will begin its session on January 3, 2009, leaving 17 days left in Bush's second term. At that point, I think we can just wait it out.

Perhaps I'm being unfair. After all, the idea may very well be simply to hold Pelosi accountable for taking impeachment off the table rather than to actually launch impeachment proceedings. That works to weaken Sheehan's case. Instead of "I will work to impeach Bush," she would be saying "I would have worked to impeach Bush." I know that San Francisco district is mighty liberal, but it isn't liberal enough to go for that.

More importantly, I've never supported the impeachment of Bush. First, if impeachment proceedings were brought and he were found guilty (of what, I don't know), we would have Dick Cheney as President, and I surely don't want that. Second, I just don't see what he would be charged with. The President can be charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors." Unfortunately, "being a bad President" and/or "lying to the American public" do not fit into that category (as a side note, lying to the American public while under oath does fit under that category as perjury - hence the Clinton impeachment).