Gonzales’ No-Confidence Vote Blocked By Republicans

Once again, Republican Party loyalty has held for President George W. Bush: a no-confidence vote on beset Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has fizzled after Senate Republicans blocked it.

This is despite indications (see below) that many Republicans are reportedly either holding their noses or seething since they’d like to see Gonzales go. But this became another of those “us against them” partisan votes that have served the Bush administration so well. The New York Times:

Senate Democrats fell short this afternoon in their effort to hold a vote of no confidence in Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales but still registered a strong, if symbolic, rebuke of the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

The Senate voted 53 to 38 to end debate and allow a vote on the no-confidence motion itself. Since 60 votes were required to shut off the debate, or invoke cloture, supporters of the motion were lacking seven votes. But Mr. Gonzales’s critics could console themselves with the knowledge that they mustered a majority, and that several Republicans sided with them .

The outcome left the attorney general’s critics in Congress uncertain about what to do next in their campaign to dislodge him from office. Congress cannot remove a Cabinet member except by impeachment, so the no-confidence motion would have been non-binding.

“It is a rare maneuver, I know,” Senator Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and was the resolution’s chief backer, said before the vote. But the move justified, he said, asserting that Mr. Gonzales was incompetent and that he had “misled Congress, misled the American people” about the dismissals of federal prosecutors and other matters.

From the standpoint of the ongoing partisan battle, the Democrats’ attempt to secure this vote is understandable. But on another level, they may have lost the battle and won the war: Gonzales remains highly unpopular with Democrats, independent voters, and many Republicans and is not a favorite of the press — and he remains standing as a high-profile symbol.

His remaining in office is symbolic of Bush’s attitude on many issues that what he says goes regardless of what Congress, the Democrats, voters in opinion polls want or anyone but GWB. Gonzales is the poster guy for the politics of non-consensus.

The debate was bitter and along party lines. And Bush? The Washington Post:

Bush dismissed the proposed resolution today in response to a question at a news conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop of his week-long trip to Europe.

“I guess it reflects the political atmosphere of Washington,” he said. “And they can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it’s not going to determine — make the determination who serves in my government.”

Bush added, “This process has been drug out a long time, which says to me it’s political. There’s no wrongdoing. You know, he — they haven’t said, here’s — you’ve done something wrong, Attorney General Gonzales. And therefore, I ascribe this lengthy series of news stories and hearings as political. And I’ll make the determination if I think he’s effective, or not, not those who are using an opportunity to make a political statement on a meaningless resolution.”

So Republicans are solidly behind Gonzales?

According to columnist Robert Novak the answer is a resounding….NO:

Just when it seemed George W. Bush’s sinking prestige with his Republican base had bottomed out, his stock hit new lows. The president’s seeming indifference to the sentencing of Scooter Libby was bad enough. But it coincided with Bush’s apparent determination to retain his friend Alberto Gonzales as attorney general against congressional pressure to depose him.

Prevailing opinion among Republican office holders, contributors and activists could not differ more from Bush’s posture. They regard Libby as a valuable public servant who faces serious prison time thanks to prosecutorial abuse made possible by Bush administration decisions. They see Gonzales as an embarrassment to the party who presides over a hollow Justice Department while presidential staffers search for Senate votes to block a no-confidence motion.

In other words: what has unfolded in Congress is GOPers sticking by Bush because he’s the only President they’ve got and to side with the Democrats would a) give the Democrats too much satisfaction b) weaken Bush even more. So they went to bat for Gonzales — who has struck out with a lot of Republicans already.

But in 2008, many voters won’t know that. All they’ll know is that Republicans have been defending Gonzales.

Novak offers another theory about why Bush is sticking by Gonzales and is gluing Republicans to Gonzales as well:

One Republican who did not watch her words last week was Washington lawyer Victoria Toensing: “If the president can pardon 12 million illegal immigrants, he can pardon Scooter Libby.” Toensing is joining the procession supporting the still-unannounced run for president by Fred Thompson, who is unequivocal in his outrage over Libby’s fate and asserts that he would pardon him.

In contrast, Republican insiders are enraged by Bush’s retention of Gonzales, whom they consider a political and governmental disaster. Beyond his affection for Gonzales, the president is reported to fear that a new attorney general could not be confirmed without pledging to name a special prosecutor to investigate the firing of U.S. attorneys. That explanation suggests a lame-duck regime, preferring to stay with a crippled, leaderless Justice Department.

Any negative stories on Gonzales will continue to get front-page and top-of-the-newscast play. And each story will be coupled with the boilerplate comment that Bush has stuck by Gonzales and says he has done nothing wrong.

Meanwhile, Gonzales’ clout in Congress will remain low. Democrats (with perhaps the exception of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, who voted with the Republicans on this one) will continue to feel he lacks moral legitimacy.

Novak further writes:

What can a lame-duck president fighting an unpopular war — the fate also of Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson — do about this? Not much, but two possibilities are talked about in Republican circles: Let Gonzales go, and pardon Libby. That might push Bush’s approval ratings even lower, but it sure would hearten his base.

That would likely be catastrophic for Bush among Democratic and independent voters. But, then, this has been an administration that seems to perceive government as something of the base, by the base and for the base.

And, in that context, Gonzales’ continued service fits in quite well.