so long gonzo.
i've written a bunch of posts about how the bush administration doesn't follow the usual script of dealing with a scandal. most administrations use quick resignations to get the controversy behind them. with a quick fall guy, they get to say "we learned our lesson and we've fixed the problem" with one swell foop. the strategy brings a sense of closure and (it is hoped) ends further investigation and embarrassing headlines.
but, as i've said before, the bushies don't follow that script. instead they deny everything, avoid any admission of wrongdoing and circle the wagons around the subject of controversy. personally, i think the strategy is stupid. while it avoids having the administration tarred with any official admitting wrong, it means that things never really go away. there's no closure, just an endless stream of embarrassing headlines. and while eventually any story will lose its steam and fade away, i think the drawn out news cycle leaves more tar than a quick resignation would.
but now resignation season is upon us, so i want to amend my theory a bit. controversial bushies do resign after all. except that the administration waits until after the scandal faded a bit before announcing the resignation. once again, this strikes me as a stupid strategy. it results in drawn-out scandals rather than quick ones, which is more damaging to the administration in the long run.
delayed resignations send a very different message than a quick one. rather than saying "this guy's at fault and takes responsibility for it", a resignation after the scandal has died down sends no message of accountability. indeed, it seems to send exactly the opposite message. by leaving a good seven months after his first name became "embattled", gonzales seems to be saying "fuck you" to all the people who called for him to go months ago. "yes, i'm ready to go," he seems to say, "i just didn't want to give you the satisfaction."
arguably the rumsfeld resignation, made years after abu ghraib, and the rove resignation, made years after he was tarred by the plame investigation and months after his failure in the 2006 election, were also fuck you resignations. last year i noted that resignation didn't seem to be in the administration's scandal-management playbook because they didn't want to admit responsibility for things. in a sense the long delayed resignation is another attempt to deny the existence of the scandal.
