"The president called it 'sad' that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was forced to resign, but don't break out the Kleenex. Gonzales was a lousy crony appointment, and the problem is that he is not alone. Bush pal Harriet Miers, by all accounts a mediocre legal thinker, almost became a Supreme Court justice. Goofball appointee Michael Brown, who oversaw horse shows before climbing the bureaucratic ladder, fumbled badly as head of FEMA. Cronyism is rife throughout the Bush administration, and it poses a serious impediment to public safety. Take James Ziglar, a banker who had the nation's top immigration enforcement job during the first Bush term. His law enforcement background consisted of less than three years as the Senate's Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper. Then Bush named Eduardo Aguirre, another banker, to head the DHS Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services. He was replaced by Emilio T. Gonzalez, another appointee with no immigration law expertise. Now rumor has it that Michael Chertoff may be nominated to replace Alberto Gonzales, and that yet another Bush loyalist - prep school friend Clay Johnson - may take over at DHS. Johnson has zero experience in homeland security and immigration law enforcement. With cronies like these, who needs enemies?"

Soon after entering his guilty plea, quarterback Michael Vick apologized for his involvement in dogfighting, calling himself "immature." Michelle welcomed sports columnist Jason Whitlock, who disagreed with other black journalists who are portraying Vick as a victim of racial animus. "Too many people," Whitlock declared, "want to define the Vick story by race, and this has nothing to do with a racist conspiracy to 'get' Michael Vick. This was a young guy who was handed a great deal of wealth and fame when he couldn't handle it, and now he has to pay the price." But law professor Christopher Bracey argued that Vick's punishment exceeds his admittedly heinous crime. "Michael Vick is one person who is engaging in a dogfighting practice that is rampant throughout the South. And one might argue that this is not primarily an African American practice. You do have to pay attention to the larger context, which is a criminal justice system that is often arrayed disproportionately against African Americans."

News Link: Vick pleads guilty

News Link: Video: Vick apologizes

Michelle was joined by her regular sparring partner, Fox News analyst Kirsten Powers, who weighed in on Alberto Gonzales' resignation. "What ultimately brought him down," Powers opined, "was when he lost Republican support. The White House obviously got the message to him that the president can't expend any more political capital on this. He has a war in Iraq, and he can't be dealing with this." Michelle added that Gonzales had almost no support on Capitol Hill. "A lot of Democrats are crowing over this, and I find it obnoxious that Ted Kennedy is speaking about the rule of law and 'integrity of office.' And on the other side, there are a lot of grass-roots conservatives who are very happy that he's not there any more, given his non-enforcement of immigration laws."

News Link: Alberto Gonzales resigns

32-year old Elvira Arellano, the illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year, has been deported to Mexico, where she denounced U.S. immigration policy. Michelle spoke about Arellano with Rev. Walter Coleman, whose church gave her sanctuary. "As a country," Coleman preached, "we have to take responsibility. For years we left our borders open, we invited people to work, we let people pay taxes, and now all of a sudden we're swept up with fear and hate and want to kick them all out. Well, we've got families here and we have to take responsibility to fix the law." Michelle pointed out that Elvira Arellano committed crimes by twice entering the country illegally. "She stole another person's Social Security card so she could work. Don't you think you're making a mistake by holding up Elvira Arellano as your poster child case? She's a known and committed deportation evader."

News Link: Deported illegal alien mother sparks rally

Michelle was next joined by former CIA terror expert Michael Scheuer, who gave his latest analysis of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. "The most important part of the story," Scheuer reported, "is the success Al Qaeda has had in inciting other Muslims to join the war against America and its allies. Unfortunately, Al Qaeda appeals to some of the best and brightest in the Muslim world. This is a very talented enemy." Scheuer also urged American policy makers to keep up the pressure. "I still think it's important to go after Bin Laden - we don't want to capture him, we want to kill him. But our servicemen and women in Afghanistan are buried under a monumental set of tasks and Bin Laden is probably behind our reach for the moment."

News Link: Newsweek: The hunt for UBL

Michelle introduced a segment that originally aired in January, when Bill welcomed Ann Coulter into the No Spin Zone. The conservative provocateur provided her observations on four Republican presidential candidates. First, John McCain: "He's a genuine war hero, unlike John Kerry. But his weaknesses are about half of his positions. I don't think he's going to be the nominee." Rudy Giuliani: "He's pro-choice and the Republican Party is the party of life. I don't see him winning the primary." Mitt Romney: "He has a proven ability to trick liberals into voting for him, and he has a working knowledge of God. He also saved the Olympics, but I put that in the weaknesses column because I hate the Olympics." Newt Gingrich: "He's absolutely brilliant, but he might have missed his time. He may come back again, like '80's music, but now doesn't seem to be his time."

18-year old Gary DeVercelly, a freshman at New Jersey's Rider University, died after reportedly drinking a bottle of liquor at a fraternity party. Two school administrators were indicted, but on Monday the prosecution dropped the charges because, according to defense attorney Rachel Kugel, they had no case. "At best," Kugel told Michelle, "this was a stretch. And at worst, it was prosecutorial misconduct. There's no way the charges would have stuck. They would have had to prove that the administrators knew exactly what was going to go on there, which was way too high a standard." Michelle reported that three Rider students remain under indictment, charged with aggravated hazing.

News Link: Frat hazing death

A hot air balloon carrying 13 people burst into flames last week as it was lifting off - the pilot and most passengers saved themselves by jumping out, but a mother and daughter died in the disaster. Diana Rutledge, who broke two feet when she leaped out of the balloon, described the ordeal from her hospital bed. "As soon as I got on the balloon I did not feel comfortable because there did not seem to be enough space. A second later a flash of fire came past my face, then two more flashes of fire. The balloon started to rise, some people jumped out, which made the balloon rise very fast. I jumped out at about 50 feet, and I wanted to make sure I landed like a cat, and I broke my feet and my ribs." Rutledge vowed that she will never again "go within a block" of another hot air balloon.

News Link: Hot air balloon tragedy