WORST EVER. The question, "Is George Bush the worst president ever?" was asked and answered a few months ago, and now Bush is just playing like Hank Aaron in his last days, trying to put the record further out of reach. The other day as we were driving past the vice president's mansion, my daughter asked me, "Is Dick Cheney the worst vice president ever?" And I immediately answered, "yes." And I think I'll stand by that answer: Spiro Agnew was a total crook but had a minimal role in the Nixon administration, and Aaron Burr did all sorts of terrible things (he was a better shot than Cheney) but mostly outside his four years as vice president.
But in honor of Alberto Gonzales's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee next week, here's a really tough question: Is Gonzales the worst attorney general ever? He's very, very bad, no doubt about it. His opinion that the Constitution contains no right of habeas corpus alone should buy the record. But the competition among crooks, cronies, and creeps in that slot is staggering: There's John Ashcroft, of course, although Gonzales probably has him beat already. Then there's Ed Meese, Nixon's AGs John Mitchell and Richard Kleindienst, who are probably Gonzales's closest role models in their view of the job as furthering the political interests of the president. Going back in history, there was A. Mitchell Palmer, who lent his name to the Palmer Raids of the Red Scare. There was James McReynolds, who later as a Supreme Court Justice forced the cancellation of the annual photograph of the Court because he refused to sit next to Justice Brandeis. And there was Roger Taney, author of the Dred Scott decision.
So if you're wondering why Gonzales hasn't resigned yet, perhaps it's because he just needs a last chance at the record.
--Mark Schmitt
