'The end of welfare as we know it?'

Paul Krugman's blog.

One important pillar of conservative political dominance, I believe, is the phenomenon sometimes called “wingnut welfare”: loyalists are always assured of decent employment, no matter how badly they perform. Paul Wolfowitz may fail miserably, twice; but there’s a chair waiting for him at AEI. Rick Santorum may talk about man on dog, and lose in a landslide; but there’s a job waiting for him as head of the “America’s Enemies” program at a movement conservative think tank.

But Alberto Gonzales, the Times tells us, is having trouble finding work:

Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought.

Still, I suspect he can always get a nice chair at Regent University.

From the article Krugman quotes:

The greatest impediment to Mr. Gonzales’s being offered the kind of high-salary job being snagged these days by lesser Justice Department officials, many lawyers agree, is his performance during his last few months in office. In that period, he was openly criticized by lawmakers for being untruthful in his sworn testimony. His conduct is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General of the Justice Department, which could recommend actions from exonerating him to recommending criminal charges. Friends set up a fund to help pay his legal bills. . . .