Lap Dog Arlen Barks Again

The Philadelphia Inquirer informs us today that PA Sen. Arlen Specter is just so magnan- imous at this moment now that Abu Gonzales has departed (and what a GOP “two-fer” yesterday, by the way, with ‘Berto taking a hike and the revelation of Larry Craig’s little escapade in the men’s room).

As the Inky notes…

"This is a very tough day for Alberto Gonzales," said Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the person who presided over his confirmation. "I'm only going to say positive things about him. He has had considerable criticism. Today, we're ready to start a new chapter in the Department of Justice."

Awww, boo-hoo for Abu. What I’d like to know, though, is why he caved at this particular moment in time (we may find out exactly why later; all this stuff “comes out in the wash” eventually).

And regarding the prospective replacement as Attorney General, who would be Mike (“City of Louisiana”) Chertoff…

"I think he is a first-rate prospect," Specter said by phone from Poland during the continuation of a trip to Russia and Eastern Europe. "I think he has done an excellent job on homeland security. I'd give him an A rating."

I’ll just take note of the latest Chertoff DHS incompetence here to criticize Specter’s hilarious assessment, and that is the decision by his agency to fight a delay sought by Congress in implementing a rule that U.S. citizens show a passport to re-enter the country by land or sea from Mexico, Canada, Bermuda or the Caribbean. DHS says delaying implementation puts the nation's borders at risk, but Congress said it was unrealistic to expect our passport offices to be able to process so many new passport claims by next year and it would hurt tourism (a position agreed upon by both Dem Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Repug Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who must have fixed his Internet tubes in time to issue a statement to the press – and when was the last, or even first, time those two agreed on anything?).

No, let’s leave DHS matters behind and recall once more here that Chertoff took a flyer on the case of Chiquita Brands and his (former?) friend Roderick M. Hills, a Chiquita board member who told the probably-next-AG that he was paying off a paramilitary group to secure its Columbia banana plantations, with that group having recently been designated a terrorist organization. Hills sought legal advice, Chertoff said he’d get back to him, Chertoff never did and then subsequently became a judge, and Chiquita Brands subsequently became the target of a criminal probe.

My issue then as now is this; either Chertoff should have told Hills to cease and desist in paying the group and risk hurting its Columbian business, or it should have turned a blind eye completely and chose not to waste money investigation the company, thus squandering our tax dollars in the process.

Before our pliant Congress rushes to confirm Chertoff (another Bushco loyalist, of course – that’s all we’ll ever see from these clowns), it would be nice if they would bother to ask him about this. I want to get rid of the stain of Abu Gonzales as much as anyone (notwithstanding his possible appearance in legal actions where he would stand as a defendant instead now instead of a member of our government), but let’s try to learn from our mistakes, shall we?

Update: Looks like Chertoff may be out and one of Dubya's Daddy's guys could come and try to bail Junior out of another mess (h/t Atrios).