Eric Alterman speculates as to the timing of Alberto Gonzales' departure:
Eric Alterman: Why did Bush do it?:
Bush called Gonzales “Fredo.” Just how stupid do you have to be to be called “Fredo” in this administration? Gonzales has always empowered Bush's worst instincts - from his jocular, 15 minute decisions about whether Texans should be put to death as governor, to his willingness to try to force an out-of-it John Ashcroft to sign papers overturning crucial constitutional guarantees from his hospital bed.
... Now ask yourself this: why did Bush do it? Why did he stick by a guy who was obviously both incompetent as well as a political liability? What was in it for Bush? The timing of Gonzales belated departure, coming as it does not long after Karl Rove's, leads one to speculate that either he felt compelled long enough to protect Rove so long as Rove was the president's man - that he really was the kind of guy who's happily park his posterior on a crate of ice for Bush for as long as it took. Or perhaps it was because Gonzales did not have confidence in the administration's ability to protect him from the consequences of his own failures and deceptions with Rove's fingers off the controls.Clearly the administration was unprepared for this as nothing at all is in place to plan for a replacement.
and Gonzales' final press conference was slightly surreal, as the good Dr. notes:
And finally, look at Fredo's final words: “Even my worst days as attorney general have been better than my father's best days.” Go out on an insult to your old man. Classy bunch, these guys.
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