“A highly questionable, obfuscation-laden enterprise”

by digby

When Bush was elected in 2004 and he swaggered all over Washington proclaiming that he had political capital and knew how to use it, the administration was busily turning the government of the most powerful nation on earth into a second rate used car dealership.

Read this fascinating, candid interview with a former career attorney in the Justice Department in which he tells the sordid story of what happened when Alberto Gonzales took over the DOJ and all the little Bushies ran around furiously padding their resumes.

When you read this, it pays to keep in mind that during the last six years Bush and all of his cronies have been telling us non-stop that we are engaged in the War of the Worlds in which the greatest threat mankind has ever known is upon us. And this is what they did:

Q: You began in the Justice Department during the Watergate years. How would you rank Alberto Gonzales in terms of politicization of the department in comparison to the other AGs you have worked for?

A: Actually, I began earlier, in the first Nixon administration, as a college intern in 1971. But I was there again in the Watergate era, when I worked in part of the Attorney General’s Office during my first year of law school in 1973-1974, and then continuously as a trial attorney and office director for nearly 30 years. That adds up to more than a dozen attorneys general, including Ed Meese as well as John Mitchell, and I used to think that they had politicized the department more than anyone could or should. But nothing compares to the past two years under Alberto Gonzales.

To be sure, he continued a trend of career/noncareer separation that began under John Ashcroft, yet even Ashcroft brought in political aides who in large measure were experienced in government functioning. Ashcroft’s Justice Department appointees, with few exceptions, were not the type of people who caused you to wonder what they were doing there. They might not have been firm believers in the importance of government, but generally speaking, there was a very respectable level of competence (in some instances even exceptionally so) and a relatively strong dedication to quality government, as far as I could see.

Under Gonzales, though, almost immediately from the time of his arrival in February 2005, this changed quite noticeably. First, there was extraordinary turnover in the political ranks, including the majority of even Justice’s highest-level appointees. It was reminiscent of the turnover from the second Reagan administration to the first Bush administration in 1989, only more so. Second, the atmosphere was palpably different, in ways both large and small. One need not have had to be terribly sophisticated to notice that when Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey left the department in August 2005 his departure was quite abrupt, and that his large farewell party was attended by neither Gonzales nor (as best as could be seen) anyone else on the AG’s personal staff.

Third, and most significantly for present purposes, there was an almost immediate influx of young political aides beginning in the first half of 2005 (e.g., counsels to the AG, associate deputy attorneys general, deputy associate attorneys general, and deputy assistant attorneys general) whose inexperience in the processes of government was surpassed only by their evident disdain for it.

Having seen this firsthand in a range of different situations for nearly two years before I retired, I found it not at all surprising that the recent U.S. Attorney problems arose in the first place and then were so badly mishandled once they did.

I have probably not given enough thought to the fact that all these young Pat Robertson U grads were using their government service as a resume builder for the lucrative business and wingnut welfare careers ahead of them. After all, Republican values have nothing really to do with families (unless you come from an important one.)They are all about value$$. So, it stands to reason that there was an element of playing in the DOJ sandbox for these people that at least explains why they are so very childlike and unsophisticated. (The interview goes into some depth about this “consensus” buck passing style and I found it quite amazing. It’s the sort of thing you often find in companies that are on their way down.)

Although the interview doesn’t go into it, it also is quite obvious that the good little Bushies that Gonzales empowered had no problem doing Karl Rove’s bidding. In 2005, if you assumed that you were building a long term career in GOP politics, you would do what Rove told you to do. He was God.

This is a very interesting read. It’s nearly impossible to believe that Gonzales can keep his job, but Bush is famously “resolute” as I’m sure you’ll remember, so I’d say it’s at least 60/40 that he’d rather see the entire US Department of Justice go down in flames than force his pal out.

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