SOMEBODY ELSE AT THE NY TIMES WHO'S OVERPAID

This time it's Sheryl Gay Stolberg. She writes that:

The back-to-back resignations of Karl Rove and Alberto R. Gonzales, two longtime aides to President Bush who have become lightning rods on Capitol Hill, amount to a political housecleaning for the White House, providing Mr. Bush a fresh chance to make what he can of his remaining months in office.

Stolberg doesn't seem to get that Bush chose both of them and stood by both of them. The blunders, lies and smears those two made are a direct reflection of Pres. Bush and there's no indication that he's undergone some radical change but Stolberg just can't resist putting on a smiley-face about the future:

For Mr. Bush, the departures are a good-news/bad-news situation. On the one hand, he can go into the next battle with Congress over the Iraq war — as well as another looming fight over legislation authorizing his domestic wiretapping program — free of the baggage both men carried. If the resignations remove some of the partisan tension between the White House and Capitol Hill, and get Mr. Rove and Mr. Gonzales off the front pages, they could help get Mr. Bush off the defensive as he struggles to salvage something of his second term.

The ISSUES brought about the by actions of Rove and Gonzales aren't going to go away and as far as partisan tension goes, Bush himself has indicated that it's not going away either:

After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It's sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons. (Bush, 2/27/07)

Jonathan at RBC and lambert at Corrente have similar takes.