I just read an excellent analysis piece from TIME Magazine. Despite the huge scandal at the DOJ — in fact because of the very nature of the scandal — Bush will not ask Attorney General Gonzales to resign. Other than stubbornness and general stupidity, qualities which this president certainly has in abundance (and I don’t write that way about the office of the president lightly), until now I had not heard any reasonable explanations as to why Gonzales is still in charge of the Department of Justice. As TIME points out, Bush has not exactly had issues with axing high-profile appointees in the past, like Rumsfled late last year.

The conclusions the TIME article reaches fit perfectly, and they are just disgusting enough for you to know, in the context of this scandal-ridden administration, that they are accurate. To put it briefly, Gonzales is Bush’s last remaining shield from a series of long-overdue investigations and prosecutions — illegal wiretapping, unconstitutional abuse of power, illegal use of executive privilege, illegal subversion of Congressional investigation subpoenas, etc. The DOJ, the very branch of the government that’s supposed to be executing these investigations in support of the law and in check of the other branches of the government, is not doing so because Gonzales is Bush’s loyal buddy and has done all he can to dig in his heels and not approve such investigations and prosecutions. I have never, ever seen public servants — politicians or otherwise, and politicians are a pretty low form of public servant — with such blatant contempt for the rule of law. It is truly disgusting. For crying out loud, not only has Gonzales perjured himself at least once during his testimony, but he actually used the phrase “I don’t recall” something like 164 times during one day’s session alone, claiming not to remember even the broadest facts about the politically-motivated firings for which he is being investigated. I say, whether he’s guilty or not (and it’s all but clear at this point that he is sinfully guilty), that he should be fired for having such a crappy memory! How can you trust someone with that much power if they can’t remember a damn thing from just a few months ago?

Read the article at TIME.com.