Where the Candidates Stand on the Fate of AG Gonzalez

Predictably mixed bag: According to Congressional Quarterly, the 2008 presidential candidates’ positions on what should be done with Attorney General Alberto ‘The Judge” Gonzalez range from “hang him high” to “no comment.”

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, called for Gonzales’ resignation in a March 13 statement in which he accused Gonzales of having “betrayed his public trust by playing politics when his job is to enforce and uphold the law.”

“Attorney General Gonzales should certainly resign now,” Edwards said.

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York called for Gonzales’ resignation during an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” and sent an e-mail to supporters March 14 urging them to sign an online petition calling for Gonzales’ resignation.

Clinton wrote that “it is time for the attorney general — who repeatedly and falsely claimed the firings were based on performance — to step down.” She accused Gonzales, a former White House counsel, of having “clearly forgotten the difference between his current job as America’s top law enforcement officer and his old job as President Bush’s personal attorney.”

Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd called for Gonzales’ dismissal if the allegations were found to be true — according to a statement his campaign released Friday to CQPolitics.com.

“Anyone found responsible for these egregious lapses in judgment — up to and including Alberto Gonzales — should be immediately dismissed,” Dodd said.

Republican candidates, on the other hand, have taken a more cautious approach — either by saying calls for Gonzales’ resignation are overhasty, or by declining comment on the matter altogether.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, in a March 15 interview on CNN’s Larry King Live, said it was too soon to make a pronouncement about Gonzales’ future.

“We collect facts and interview witnesses before we convict. And we don’t have that information yet,” Romney said.

Arizona Sen. John McCain, during a campaign trip in Iowa last week, did not call for Gonzales’ resignation — but said, according to the Des Moines Register, that “congressional hearings are warranted and will take place. And there’s a lot of explaining to do.”

Several other Republican candidates or their campaigns — including that of former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani — have declined to say whether or not Gonzales should resign.

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