Alberto is Gonzo, or Another Rat Flees

Bush apparently is going to finally be rid of his serial-prevaricating, corrupt, and less-than-competent Attorney General:

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whose tenure has been marred by controversy and accusations of perjury before Congress, has resigned. He is expected to announce the decision to reporters at 10:30 Eastern time this morning in Washington.

Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation for months, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, a senior administration official said.

Mr. Bush has not yet chosen a replacement but will not leave the position open long, the official said early this morning, speaking on condition of anonymity because the resignation had not yet been made public.

The Post’s story on his departure:

His testimony on issues such as a federal wiretap program required follow-up explanations and was contradicted by documents or the statements of other federal officials. At hearings on the U.S. attorney firings, Gonzales frequently said he could not remember details about key events — frustrating members of Congress who felt he was trying to minimize his role in what they regarded as politically motivated dismissals. Some suggested that the nation’s top law enforcement official had committed perjury.

“Alberto Gonzales was never the right man for this job. He lacked independence, he lacked judgment, and he lacked the spine to say no to Karl Rove,” said Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), referring to the belief among many Democrats that political strategist Rove engineered the ouster of the U.S. attorneys to make room for appointees more loyal to Bush.

“This resignation is not the end of the story. Congress must get to the bottom of this mess and follow the facts where they lead, into the White House.”

~~~

Gradually, opposition to him spread from the Democrats to include key Republicans.

“I do not find your testimony credible,” Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told him flatly in a July hearing on the surveillance program.

“Under this Attorney General and this President, the Department of Justice suffered a severe crisis of leadership that allowed our justice system to be corrupted by political influence,” Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), said as news of Gonzales’ resignation circulated. “I hope the Attorney General’s decision will be a step toward getting to the truth about the level of political influence this White House wields over the Department of Justice and toward reconstituting its leadership.”

He was the least credible attorney general in the last 100 years, and that is a list which includes at least two men who were the subject of indictments.

MORE: Supposedly Skeletor is on the short list to replace Gonzo:

Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff was among those mentioned as possible successors.

Weren’t his massive contributions to the FEMA/Katrina clusterfuck enough?