Can we have our diplomas back?

A little more than a month after receiving the Honorary Alumnus Award from the Dedman School of Law, United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is in the middle of a political firestorm.

The firings of eight U.S. attorneys for seemingly political reasons is another in a line of blunders during Bush’s presidency, but this one seems to be a scandal with legs. And for good reason.

The people of this country deserve a Justice Department that is above politics, and it’s pretty obvious that this one is drowning in its own partisanship.

People supporting Gonzales and the White House, an increasingly small group, say the attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and he has the right to fire them whenever he wants. This is true. But why fire them and then lie about it?

Justice Department officials say the dismissals were performance related, but most of the attorneys received positive reviews before dismissal. It’s a weak cover by the department, but Gonzales’ excuse is even worse.

Last week he said that he is not and cannot be aware of the actions of those under him in the department. At best he is trying to save his job, at worst he now appears incompetent and distanced from his staff.

Things have only gotten worse in the past few days.

The president has decided to do his best Tammy Wynette impersonation and “stand by his man,” Alberto.

On Wednesday, a puzzling 16-day gap in documents sent to congressional investigators by the Justice Department is only raising more questions.

Bush has also rebuffed congressional requests to have Karl Rove and White House counsel Harriet Miers speak.

Which brings us to the actual SMU alum, Ms. Miers.

Her involvement in this scandal is embarrassingly large and makes us questions whether she has forgotten everything she learned in her ethics classes. It’s so bad that Saturday Night Live should re-run the sketch they did in Fall 2005, where Miers ran across the Oval Office and jumped into the president’s arms, screaming “Bushie!”

E-mails show that Miers worked with Rove and Gonzales Chief of Staff Kyle Sampson to get selected prosecutors fired.

This scandal shows that all of the commentators were correct in tearing Miers’ credentials to shreds when she was nominated for the Supreme Court. It’s sad that Miers could not be anything more than a political hack for the White House.

Miers has been given numerous awards by this university, most recently the Storey Award for Distinguished Acheivement in 2006 by the law school.

She has been a good representative of what someone from SMU can do, but now she is an embarrassment to her alma mater.

The current scandal, and its multitude of SMU connections, makes us wonder if this isn’t a huge sign that maybe it’s not the best idea to be so cozy with the Bush administration.

Just when you think things can’t get any worse, a new scandal pops up that makes you wonder what the hell is going on.

Oh well, we’re probably just overreacting.

We look forward to reading Gonzales’ defense of the firings a few years from now in his cozy office in the Bush Institute.