Finding a Scapegoat

When the whole Watergate mess was careening out of control, President Nixon tried desperately to find a scapegoat, someone whom he could blame the whole thing on, so that Congress and the media would be satisfied they had found the source and would stop looking. He tried John Dean, John Mitchell, H.R. Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman, but unfortunately, none of them were willing to take the fall alone. So they all came tumbling down, Nixon being the only one to avoid prison thanks to President Ford's pardon.

That same whiff of desperation is starting to emanate from the current administration. Attorney General Gonzalez today is attempting to hang the whole US Attorney scandal on his former deputy, Paul McNulty, who announced his resignation yesterday. Even if McNulty is willing to take the fall alone, which there is no sign he is, DOJ documents already handed over to Congress make it clear that McNulty was on the periphery of this scandal, at most. We're still a long way from impeaching a President, or even getting rid of the Gonzalez, but I don't think this attempt at scapegoating is going to satisfy anyone.

As this continues to unfold, we should get to see exactly where President Bush's loyalties lie, and I'm betting that Karl Rove has a tighter grip on them than Alberto Gonzalez.