The Common Law of Scandal: Why Attorney General Gonzales Should Not Resign

March 21, 2007 — -- As scandals go, the legal firing of eight U.S. attorneys is really minor-league stuff, an exercise in reverse patronage that indicts the Bush administration's political finesse, not its ethics. President Clinton knew how to handle such matters: Act quickly, assert the full power of the president to control the executive branch and refuse to apologize for the division of authority put in place by the framers. A little Jacksonian contempt for the other branches is often useful inside the Beltway.

When the Bushies did not act that way -- and looked like the kid with the cookie jar -- Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., instantly saw an opening and headed for it. The relentlessness of the Schumer attack machine makes charges about Karl Rove's tendency to polarize seem pale in comparison. I've written before that Schumer is the new Nixon, and not just in the spooky physical resemblance, but in Nixon's dedication to full-contact politics. "Game on" is Schumer's way, and the sooner every GOPer figures that out, the better off the party will be.

When President Bush declared flatly on Tuesday night that he would reject all subpoenas directed at his White House aides, he finally took the step that turned the tide. The Senate and House subpoenas will be refused, and one side or the other will put them before a district court in the District of Columbia. From there a decision will be appealed to the D.C. circuit, and perhaps on to the United States Supreme Court. The president will win.

(Consider the precedent that a decision empowering the Senate or House to call any White House aide for any reason would have on the management of the executive branch. Not only would scores of people simply refuse to serve, those foolhardy enough to trust in the good graces of the Democrats would be under oath and subject to jumped-up perjury prosecutions after every mandatory trip to the Hill.)

There's a sort of common law of scandal in D.C., a history of pratfalls and crimes, blunders and buffoonery that has accumulated over the decades. At the summit of this sorry list of foibles are the Watergate crimes and Clinton's lies under oath -- the impeachable offenses category. Short of that zenith we have scores of examples, from Sherman Adam's coat to Jack Kennedy's girlfriends. Some were investigated and led to resignation. Others were accommodated and led to winks. It isn't that human behavior has changed in D.C. much in the modern era (or even in the 18th and early 19th century -- ask Aaron Burr about Alexander Hamilton) just the standards applied by the Mainstream Media.

Hugh Hewitt is host of the nationally syndicated "Hugh Hewitt" show and author of "A Mormon in the White House? Ten Things Every American Should Know About Mitt Romney." He blogs at hughhewitt.com