If that is so, how do you explain Satoshi handing over the lead developer role to Gavin, and saying that the project is "in good hands with Gavin and the others"?
Satoshi is not an omniscient god. The number of contacts he had was very limited. Using (questionable) Satoshi quotes as proof for an argument is plain stupidity.
Gavin should get both his alert key and his commit access removed.
I completely agree on the first part. Just because satoshi invented something amazing (which started a revolution), that does not mean that he can not make mistakes trusting people. His ownership of a alert key needs to be re-evaluated, but I do not think that the commit access needs to be removed.