# Gonzalez to resign, be replaced by Chertoff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 25, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890 "2007-08-25T15:02:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/1 "2007-08-25T15:02:26Z")
Story [here,](http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2007/8/24/maybe-trading-up-soon-at-justice.html) but at present there’s nothing to go on but “the buzz among top Bushies.” If it happened, could Chertoff get confirmed easily? And who would replace him at Homeland Security? I don’t suppose it would affect Congressional investigations of Gonzalez’ conduct in office one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/2 "2007-08-25T15:07:23Z")
Chertoff is the best nominee one can expect to get, so yes, he’d get confirmed. It doesn’t matter who replaces him at HS. And the Gonzalez problem is primarily his own fitness for office, and Rove’s involvement, so yes, the investigations would peter out. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/3 "2007-08-25T15:12:12Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] And the Gonzalez problem is primarily his own fitness for office, and Rove’s involvement, so yes, the investigations would peter out. [/QUOTE] No, the Gonzalez problem is mainly the attorney-firings affair, which is part of a coordinated program to rig future elections against Democratic candidates. A Dem-controlled Congress isn’t going to let **that** go so easily. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/4 "2007-08-25T15:16:06Z")
It was part of a \*past \* effort regarding \*past \* elections. There’s too much public awareness of it now for it to work in the future. Most likely. We hope. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/5 "2007-08-25T15:18:04Z")
Well, Chertoff confirmation hearings would give Dems a good reason to bring up the gov’t response to Katrina again, which depending on how close to '08 we are, might give Bush some pause in selecting Chertoff. Indeed, the whole dept. of Homeland Security is pretty unpopular, I’m not sure the GOP would want to give the Dems another forum to grill its head on its various failings. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/6 "2007-08-25T15:41:47Z")
Since when does potential public disapproval prevent Bush from doing _anything_. I think at this point the White House is more interested in covering their own ass than anything else. That means putting a reliable crony in charge of Justice. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/7 "2007-08-25T16:03:39Z")
[QUOTE=ElvisL1ves] Chertoff is the best nominee one can expect to get, so yes, he’d get confirmed. [/QUOTE] The scary thing is, I expect you’re right on both counts. And I regard Chertoff as a political hack and a proven incompetent. I would _hope_ that the Dems would block the confirmation of any AG nominee who didn’t have a much stronger track record of both competence and impartiality. But at this point my opinion of the Dems’ effectiveness is pretty low. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/8 "2007-08-25T20:57:10Z")
[QUOTE=Malodorous] Well, Chertoff confirmation hearings would give Dems a good reason to bring up the gov’t response to Katrina again, which depending on how close to '08 we are, might give Bush some pause in selecting Chertoff. .. [/QUOTE] Can’t Bush just have Gonzalez resign while Congress is in recess and appoint whoever he want’s using a recess appointment (depriving the Senate of any say). That would last until 3 weeks before his term is up. ---
**Author:** ![BJMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@BJMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BJMoose)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/9 "2007-08-25T21:23:12Z")
I wonder what Chertoff’s gut feeling is about all this? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/10 "2007-08-25T22:27:06Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Can’t Bush just have Gonzalez resign while Congress is in recess [/QUOTE] The WH has an agreement with Reid not to do that - the result of Reid’s previously announcing plans to keep the Senate formally in session continuously, with a pro-forma gavel banging as required, in order to prevent any more such fuckyou appointments. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/11 "2007-08-27T12:44:44Z")
NPR’s Morning Edition is saying – repeatedly – that Gonzalez will announce his resignation later today. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/12 "2007-08-27T12:50:30Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] No, the Gonzalez problem is mainly the attorney-firings affair… [/QUOTE] It was. Now it’s the commission of perjury in an apparent attempt to forestall inquiry into those firings. Fromw here I sit, the firings, while politically idiotic, were legal. Lying under oath to keep the details quiet, however, is most certainly illegal. And as I said here several weeks ago, it’s for that reason that Gonzales needed to either resign or be fired. I also said that a grand jury needed to hear perjury charges against him, and I think that should be the next step. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/13 "2007-08-27T13:20:59Z")
A couple weeks ago a reported asked Bush (occasionally they get to ask him a question) about Gonzalez being held to a high standard of accountability. Bush answered (as nearly as I recall): “I don’t accept the premise of your question. Alberto Gonzalez hasn’t done anything to be held accountable for.” So why is he resigning? Maybe he wants to spend more time with Karl Rove’s family. Well, I hope he he dies in a prison cell. (Not likely, but I’m a bit of a sentimentalist about these things.) ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/14 "2007-08-27T13:24:34Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] Well, I hope he he dies in a prison cell. (Not likely, but I’m a bit of a sentimentalist about these things.) [/QUOTE] Wow. What other crimes do you believe should carry the death penalty, or life in prison, as punishment? ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/15 "2007-08-27T13:25:44Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] So why is he resigning? Maybe he wants to spend more time with Karl Rove’s family. [/QUOTE] I think the official line is that the (unfounded, of course) accusations have become too much of a distraction for the Justice dept. and so Gonzales is resigning for the greater good. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/16 "2007-08-27T13:26:47Z")
[WaPo](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/27/AR2007082700372.html?hpid=artslot) says Gonzalez will announce his resignation at a press conference at 10:30 this morning. > [@](#): > > The departure leaves Bush with a key cabinet opening nearing the end of his second term. As controversy around Gonzales mounted, so has speculation about possible replacements. Among the names mentioned by lawmakers and their aides in recent weeks: Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff; former deputy attorney general James Comey and former deputy attorney Larry Thompson. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/17 "2007-08-27T13:31:38Z")
If Bush appoints Comey, I’ll be forced to say something nice about the administration for probably the first time since at least '04. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/18 "2007-08-27T13:40:57Z")
I hope they have Gonzalez’s Medal of Freedom ready in time. “Gonzo, you’ve done a heck of a job” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/19 "2007-08-27T13:50:31Z")
[QUOTE=cosmosdan] I hope they have Gonzalez’s Medal of Freedom ready in time. [/QUOTE] We laugh because it is funny, and we laugh because it is true. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890/20 "2007-08-27T14:02:53Z")
A couple of months ago the consensus of this Board was that Gonzo would **never** go - there were too many skeletons in the closet that could potentially come out during the confirmation hearings for a new AG. What’s changed? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gonzalez-to-resign-be-replaced-by-chertoff/416890.md?page=2)