Editorial: Too much loyalty can sometimes bite you

Earlier this morning, Tony noted on Alberto Gonzales' sudden resignation.  I was away when the news broke.  Nonetheless, I wrote down a few brainstormed bullet points:

• I remember thinking yesterday there was a strong chance of him resigning after news broke on Saturday night that Michael Chertoff would be the leading candidate to replace Gonzales "if he resigned."  When those kinds of strategy hypotheticals get leaked, it means that someone inside the Administration was making contingency plans because something was about to happen.  That was probably when President Bush learned of the news himself.
• President Bush is really on his own.  He has Cheney and Rice butting heads with one another over Iran, so there certainly is not a steady foreign policy message coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  It is likely that any future Iraq strategy will be developed based on what the Administration wants to do about Iran.  To this day, there is no consensus.
• Lastly, and most important, it took George W. Bush six years to learn that in Washington there is no such thing as loyalty.  He gave Gonzales his 100% support, even during the Justice Department scandal, and then the Attorney General suddenly cut and ran on him.  When you blindly let people run all over you, they use you and then leave you hanging.  Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales, two of President Bush's few close friends over the years, could not muster up the respect to dig their heels in and stand by his side for one more year.  So much for loyalty.