He wasn't the only one. The George W Bush administration was half Reagan Conservatives, and half Neoconservatives. Bush himself ran on a Reaganesque platform, but after 9/11 the neoconservatives took control, and many of the regular conservatives jumped ship.
I actually proudly voted and campaigned for GW in 2000. Members of his team fucked him, and he's too loyal a guy to admit it. This is the GWB I voted for in 2000, and he sounds an awful lot like "crazy" "extremist" Rand Paul.
Sorry. You don't understand the relationship between the Patriot Act and the Gonzales resignation. You're not alone as not many do.
The biggest political scandal of the last 10+ years was the secret firings of 9 U.S. Attorney's and the attempted politicization of the Justice Department. They were fired as part of an insidious political scheme where there was an attempt to exploit a provision contained within the Patriot Act. A U.S. Attorney is a position that requires Senate confirmation. The position is typically coordinated with Senators from a given state and the main qualifications of the nominated attorney are experience, competence, and integrity. The Bush admin kept 1 holdover from the previous admin and replaced the rest in 2001. The 93 new U.S. Attorney's all went through Senate confirmation.
The provision in the Patriot Act said that if a U.S. Attorney leaves the position for any reason, they could be replaced by an interim placeholder that does not have to be confirmed by the Senate until the next election. In 2005, they got rid of a U.S. Attorney from Missouri and replaced him with an unqualified hack who went forward with politically motivated prosecutions that the seasoned/replaced U.S. Attorney held off on. The 2006 election cycle passed and those pulling the strings got bolder and settled on a list of 8 U.S. Attorneys to fire while telling them to go away quietly. They were amongst the finest and were likely never to be corrupted. They were replaced by political hacks who lacked integrity and would bring charges to hinder or destroy political opponents when asked. Eventually, the fired U.S. Attorney's didn't go quietly. Investigations ensued. The Senate removed the previously unknown provision. Some of the new U.S. Attorney's resigned rather than face very problematic confirmation hearings. Millions of emails kept on a non-government server were deleted. The ones that were on the government server revealed some of the plot.
The one lesson Republicans took from the Iran-Contra hearings was never let them get you under oath. Unfortunately for Alberto Gonzales, he couldn't avoid that. Alberto Gonzales had 3 choices... 1) Lie under oath and probably be found guilty of perjury. 2) Be truthful and take down the presidency and possibly his party. 3) Don't provably lie, but appear to know nothing and look incompetent and resign. He chose #3.
In the end, without the little known provision in the Patriot Act, there would have been no secret firings, no investigations, and no under oath testimony. He would've served out the term as Attorney General.
The biggest political scandal of the last 10+ years was the secret firings of 9 U.S. Attorney's and the attempted politicization of the Justice Department. They were fired as part of an insidious political scheme where there was an attempt to exploit a provision contained within the Patriot Act. A U.S. Attorney is a position that requires Senate confirmation. The position is typically coordinated with Senators from a given state and the main qualifications of the nominated attorney are experience, competence, and integrity. The Bush admin kept 1 holdover from the previous admin and replaced the rest in 2001. The 93 new U.S. Attorney's all went through Senate confirmation.
The provision in the Patriot Act said that if a U.S. Attorney leaves the position for any reason, they could be replaced by an interim placeholder that does not have to be confirmed by the Senate until the next election. In 2005, they got rid of a U.S. Attorney from Missouri and replaced him with an unqualified hack who went forward with politically motivated prosecutions that the seasoned/replaced U.S. Attorney held off on. The 2006 election cycle passed and those pulling the strings got bolder and settled on a list of 8 U.S. Attorneys to fire while telling them to go away quietly. They were amongst the finest and were likely never to be corrupted. They were replaced by political hacks who lacked integrity and would bring charges to hinder or destroy political opponents when asked. Eventually, the fired U.S. Attorney's didn't go quietly. Investigations ensued. The Senate removed the previously unknown provision. Some of the new U.S. Attorney's resigned rather than face very problematic confirmation hearings. Millions of emails kept on a non-government server were deleted. The ones that were on the government server revealed some of the plot.
The one lesson Republicans took from the Iran-Contra hearings was never let them get you under oath. Unfortunately for Alberto Gonzales, he couldn't avoid that. Alberto Gonzales had 3 choices... 1) Lie under oath and probably be found guilty of perjury. 2) Be truthful and take down the presidency and possibly his party. 3) Don't provably lie, but appear to know nothing and look incompetent and resign. He chose #3.
In the end, without the little known provision in the Patriot Act, there would have been no secret firings, no investigations, and no under oath testimony. He would've served out the term as Attorney General.
Was aware, and do remember that now. The guy he replaced was John Ashcroft. John Ashcroft was the one that wouldn't play ball.
