I have seen the complaints regarding Republican appointees as the victims of unfair prosecutorial attacks by Democrats. In the case of Scooter Libby, I have a tendency to agree. But in the case of Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, I would have to say that this is someone who is no friend to conservatives, and needs to go...far away.

Aside from being a Bush lackey from way back, he has shown no real affinity for Republicans. His office was recently forced to admit that the FBI violated the law and the civil rights of citizens. In addition, he has been accused of firing eight U.S. Attorneys (who serve at the pleasure of the POTUS) for "political reasons", which remain undisclosed. Apparently the U.S. Attorneys are kept on a very short leash and are coerced to prosecute certain cases while they are told to look the other way on others. Case in point is the recent issue in Texas with now infamous Bush appointee-kissbutt Johnny Sutton, the dirge of conservatives everywhere for the inexplicable persecution and prosecution of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, in addition to the as-yet-to-be-sentenced law enforcement officer Gilmer Hernandez. His only crime was that he shot his gun at a fleeing suspect, and in the course of the event a bullet ricocheted off the pavement and cut the lip of an illegal immigrant. For this, Hernandez is looking at seven years in PMITA prison.

These two cases, coupled with the total ignorance of the problems in the Texas Youth Commission - which a Texas Ranger says housed horrific sexual abuse cases on the part of the people that were supposed to protect them - calls into question the credibility of Sutton and Gonzalez. They seem to be more concerned about the feelings of the Mexican government, who apparently have the Gonzalez office on speed dial. Gonzalez, after all, is a longtime member of La Raza (in case you forget, the motto of La Raza is "for the race everything, outside the race nothing"), and was pushed for the Supreme Court and later the AG job by said organization. He is also a former board member of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican-Americans. Neither of these organizations are what we might call Bush-friendly, unless Bush is capitulating to the Mexican government and looking the other way when it comes to illegal immigration. The phantom "Hispanic vote" that the GOP continues to go after like so many Don Quixotes chasing windmills, did not come through for them in the 2006 elections, so why is it that Bush continues to suck up to it? Why is it that law enforcement officers doing their job on the Mexican border continue to be a dirge on the planet while those supposedly charged with protecting and defending juveniles in the Texas Youth Commission are allowed to operate willy-nilly? Why are drug cartels able to come into the country without so much as a raised eyebrow? Are we chasing after the drug cartel/illegal immigrant Hispanic vote, or are we going after the vote that really counts - legal immigrants who really want to be here and help build the infrastructure of the country?

If Democrats are afraid to pursue the obvious problems with the Ramos-Compean-Hernandez convictions because they don't want to be seen as anti-amnesty, then they certainly have found an issue that is nearer and dearer to their heart with the problematic U.S. Attorney dismissals and the apparent disregard of civil rights by the FBI. Whatever the road to dismissal for Gonzalez there is, then that is the road that should be taken. My only hope is that whoever takes over for Gonzalez will give law enforcement officers the tools to enforce the laws without overstepping their reasonable legal boundaries (while operating without fear of random and vicious prosecution), and will have the courage to ignore the whiny demands of the Mexican government.