John Kerry Tells Bush to Restore Integrity to Justice Department

As Hart noted below, Alberto Gonzales resigned today and even the wingnuts are "swimming away from the sinking Ship of State." The WaPo reports that Gonzales' resignation ends "a controversial cabinet tenure that included clashes with Congress over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and over the use of warrantless wiretaps in the war on terror."

In a brief statement, he called his 13 years in public service a "remarkable journey," but he gave no explanation about why he chose to resign now after resisting months of pressure to quit.

Gag me... The praise from Dubya is nauseating:

In a brief statement from an airport tarmac in Waco, Tex., President Bush praised Gonzales as "a man of integrity, decency and principle." The president also asserted that his attorney general had been unfairly maligned.

"It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons," Bush said.

Gonzo's resignation "marks the loss" of yet another BushCo loyalist "at a time when the president's support in public opinion polls has been lagging and amid a fight with Congress over the future of Iraq war policy."

Senator John Kerry issued the following statement today, following the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez:

“Alberto Gonzales turned the Justice Department into a political arm of the White House and he should have resigned long ago,” Kerry said. “From the firings of the US Attorneys to evasion about illegal wiretapping, Gonzales single-handedly damaged the integrity of our legal system and subverted efforts to get to the truth. This is a critical moment. President Bush can either continue on a divisive and destructive path, or choose in the next Attorney General someone who knows they’re not the president’s lawyer but rather the nation’s top law enforcement officer. The President should choose a replacement that gives the department a fresh start, untainted by controversy; and even with Gonzales gone, Congress must keep pushing until we get truth and accountability on unanswered questions involving everything from illegal wiretapping to the US Attorneys scandal.”

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Cross posted from The Democratic Daily.
John Kerry Tells Bush to Restore Integrity to Justice Department