Recent articles, consolidated in a post on June 15, 2007, at Big Brass Blog, are enough to give more than fleeting hope that the Attorney General of the United States, Alberto Gonzales, may be nearing the end of his tenure and that top officials at the White House may soon be confronted with evidence of their own involvement in the scandal surrounding the politically motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys.

While not wishing to be the bearer of contrarian negativism when it comes to prospects for justice to prevail, at least insofar as Mr. Gonzales is concerned little is being revealed, claimed, or shown at present that offers reason for optimism. In this editorial, I set forth the essence of my beef with this stew being stirred by progressive journalists.

First, far and away too many bloggers and some congressional investigators are quoting Monica Goodling with respect to a meeting she had with Alberto Gonzales that she claimed made her "uncomfortable." Monica Goodling has zero credibility, this despite the kid-gloves, grovel-at-her-feet, immunity-on-a-silver-platter treatment accorded her by congressional Democrats, who still seem to be afraid that they're going to treat the wrong person harshly and thereby garner the wrath of some electorate that is so poorly informed and capriciously engaged that it wouldn't notice Harry Reid as a Senator even if he were a contestant on American Idol.

Monica Goodling contorted her sworn testimony to portray herself as some lowly office bimbo. She wasn't. Her testimony was, at best, misleading. More to the point, in a sane era where the rule of law prevailed, her behavior prior to testifying would have been judged in contempt of Congress, and her eventual testimony would have bordered on perjury. Goodling—together with the other fresh-out-of-Christian-law-school, young-pup dominionists—virtually ran the hiring-and-firing scam at DoJ deliberately crafted as part of an ambitious effort (actually, a "scheme" in legal terminology) to turn the United States justice system into the spear point of an Executive Branch driving to turn the United States of America into the medieval abyss of a "Christian nation."

Monica Goodling is no hero; she isn't even a person worth quoting.

And on the topic of quotable people being embraced by progressives, Department of Justice hero du jour James B. Comey served at DoJ as nothing other than a tool of Right-wing interests (masquerading as conservatives, I might add) that had already infected the highest levels of the government in the early years of the Bush Administration. Comey was a proactive shill who used his status as Acting Attorney General in the investigation of the outing of non-official cover operative Valerie Plame as the means by which his henchman, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, could once and for all destroy the presumption of journalistic confidentiality of sources, an effort consistent with the less-than-flattering term "zealous" used in a Washington Post article to describe him and some of his activities. "Fitzy" (to use the Left's once-adoring term for him) declined his otherwise golden opportunity to force President George W. Bush to testify under oath before a grand jury; he let Vice President Richard V. Cheney have counsel present (try getting that sweet deal for yourself when you're hauled in to face a federal grand jury); and in the end, he came up with a conviction of one, little man. Comey, described by the Washington Post as the "unofficial president-for-life of the Pat Fitzgerald Booster Club," was part and parcel of what cannot be described as other than a whitewash, as laid out here at The Dark Wraith Forums in an October 2005 editorial and again in a January 2006 editorial.

And now, to top it all off, Mr. Fitzgerald—that bulwark of law enforcement, that square-jawed defender of justice, that prosecutor who went after a judge who tried to stop him from breaking the law—has made it known to Congress that he would have little to say if called to testify about what he learned during his investigation, an investigation which, by the way, ended up costing an appallingly miniscule fraction of what was spent by politically and privately motivated prosecutors hunting down the Clintons during the 1990s. Miserably miserly as Fitzgerald's expenditures in the pursuit of justice were, he spent public money, and now he advances the amazing proposition that the product of that public money is his to keep all to his precious self, despite the fact that a sound legal argument could be made that his refusal to disclose everything he knows constitutes obstruction of justice.

Now, let us finally take note of and address the curious, falsely satisfying spectacle of resignations up and down the top tiers of the Department of Justice. This trickle of soon-to-be-extinct dodos lining up for the American version of hara-kiri might be good theatre for the buzzards promoting the buzz in Washington, but take solemn note: the Department of Justice—that now-grandly humiliated agency, that giant stone slab looking every day more and more like a cross between a mausoleum and a Soviet-era party house—is still headed by none other than—gasp! are you ready for this?—Alberto Gonzales.

He's not leaving. Not yet, anyway. Other people at DoJ are losing their jobs; other people are being embarrassed, disgraced, criticized, threatened, subpoenaed, harassed, bullied, and cajoled by committees full of Democrats struttin' their stuff for the C-Span cameras; but Alberto Gonzales is still at his desk, still daring—simply daring—anyone to remove him.

Mr. Gonzales, then, stands as the stark, yet entirely sublime, living metaphor of the only man to whom he answers: George W. Bush, the head of the entire Executive Branch, the man who has without question committed unconscionably wrongful acts against the Republic, and in so doing, has laid bare the sham of every grave intonation about the "rule of law" in this land.

Yes, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is headed to jail. Yes, top officials of the Department of Justice have resigned. Yes, a general who lied about the situation in Iraq is now gone. Yes, aides to White House political operative Karl "He of the Cloven Hoof" Rove have quit. But to what does all of this amount?

It is as if the progressives from the Blogosphere to the Capitol are standing at the edge of a national sewer, reaching in and randomly grabbing a passing chunk of stool, then proudly hoisting it for all to see while bawling, "We GOT one, by golly! Boy, are we gonna show it who's boss!"

And yet the sewer, itself, roils on, bubbling forth the stench of the neo-conservative meat wagon lashed to the twin demons of dominionist Christian vision and plain, old-fashioned redneck thuggery.

The era of George W. Bush is far from coming to a close; and, in fact, unless a wildly sweeping, systematic prosecution of the top officials of the United States comes, we shall be right back here within a decade, the possible election of a Democrat as President in 2008 notwithstanding. It took less than a decade for the Right to begin its hateful rise once again after the fall of Richard Nixon. It will take even less time in this era if nothing is done to legally, forcefully, and resoundingly punish George W. Bush.

The Democrats have shown no inclination whatsoever for the grim task necessary to save this Republic from an evil that no doubt has a veritable legion of easily punishable minions in the lower ranks of the White House, the Department of Justice, and every other agency, but that has its heart and soul in the man who sits in the Oval Office just daring the cowards in Congress to take him on. The Democrats in Washington simply cannot.

But those same Democrats will still want your votes the next time they're up for re-election; and, of course, they'll really want your donations. Believe it or not, they'll also be asking for your trust.

It's almost like they're just daring you to do something, isn't it?



The Dark Wraith has spoken.