Surprise, Heller Picked up the Phone

When Molly Ball and Lisa Mascaro wrote articles on calls for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation almost a week ago, they could only write the following about Heller. Lisa Mascaro (Sun):

Nevada's other Republican congressman, Dean Heller, could not be reached for comment.

And Molly Ball (LRVJ):

Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., did not respond to multiple requests for comment Friday.

We almost feared the Congressman from Nevada had gone AWOL again. We're still not quite sure what happened there but Heller has mysteriously reappeared and is even talking to journalists:

Republican Rep. Dean Heller on Thursday joined other Nevada lawmakers who are calling for the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

"I think he's become a distraction," Heller said. "I think he's a distraction to the Department of Justice."

Heller said he agreed with Rep. Jon Porter, also R-Nev., who said last week that the American people have lost confidence in the attorney general and his management of the Department of Justice after the dismissal of eight U.S. attorneys.

"I don't think (it's) my job, as a congressman, to tell the (Bush) administration what to do with their nominees, and frankly I think it's much more of a Senate issue than it is a congressional issue," Heller said.

"But I do think it's become a distraction, and I think it would be in his (Gonzales') best interest to step down," he said.

Heller should really start working on his quotes. All those parentheses are highly irritating. But I digress. The only comment worthy on this comes from the Las Vegas Gleaner:

Alberto "Al" Gonzales has managed to withstand the withering criticism of his incompetent yet corrupt performance as attorney general, and the accompanying calls for his resignation even from influential senators of his own party, for much longer than many expected. But the day of reckoning is clearly at hand. Rep. Dean Heller, the powerful 19th ranking minority party member of the mostly negligible House Natural Resources Committee and the the 435th most influential person in the 435 member House of Representatives, has called on Gonzales to resign (LVRJ). Heller joins fellow War Party Rep. Jon Porter, the powerful 355th most influential person in the House, in calling for the head of Alberto Gonzales. The dean of Nevada's War Party congressional delegation, John Ensign, R-VO5, continues to withhold judgment while waiting to see if Alberto still has enough pull to get Ensign free memberships at exclusive golf clubs which Alberto himself would never be allowed to join.