Gonzales Giggles Through Testimony, Ignores Even More New Evidence
| Fri May. 11, 2007 8:49 AM PDT
Yesterday I wrote that a ninth purged U.S. Attorney had been found and that Alberto Gonzales, who was going before the House Judiciary Committee, was going to have to answer some tough questions.
Well, as it happens, Gonzales displayed the same combination of (feigned) cluelessness and (unwarranted) chutzpah as he did when appearing before the Senate last month in order to avoid saying much of anything at all. A major difference? No defensiveness -- Gonzales seems to know he can't or won't be fired, and has stopped caring what Congress or the American people think of him. He giggled throughout his testimony, in the face of weighty and sometimes damning questions.
He might want to get serious. McClatchy reports new evidence that Karl Rove essentially used Gonzales' Department of Justice as the enforcement arm for his Machiavellian schemes. Just weeks before the November 2006 elections, Karl Rove and his deputies twice urged the Department of Justice (using Gonzo's chief-of-staff Kyle Sampson as a primary contact) to investigate voter fraud in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin -- even though it is DOJ policy not to open such investigations shortly before elections because of the possibility of influencing votes.
But that was the point. The cases that Rove wanted investigated where shams -- the allegations of voter fraud in Wisconsin, for example, were two years old and had already been thoroughly investigated, with no results. And obviously the voter fraud Rove wanted investigated was all one-sided stuff -- Republicans being disenfranchised by Democrats and not the other way around. How do we know? Rove's evidence of voter fraud came from a 30-page report compiled by Republican activists.
That's right -- conservative activists on the ground were in direct contact with the president's top political adviser, who in turn tried to turn the activists' loony schemes into official Department of Justice policy. Are we a banana republic yet?
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Comments
Gonzales will never be fired. Think Rumsfeld. And remember why Gonzales got the job in the first place. Bush /Cheney have secrets and need Alberto to keep them under wraps. Nor can they afford confirmation hearing for a new AG. So Gonzales has job security which is the envy of every working stiff.
Submitted by Eric Ferguson (not verified) on Fri May. 11, 2007 12:56 PM PDT.
I'm glad someone else saw it too. I saw some of his testimony on C-SPAN last night and thought I saw a smirk, like the sort conservative pundits use on TV when they're being patronizing toward a liberal co-panelist. His face said he was pulling one over on the dumb Democrats.
Please Congress, impeach him already. He's had his perfunctory appearance before both houses and he obviously has lied, withheld documents, and shown utter contempt to Congress.
Submitted by GeneTouchet (not verified) on Fri May. 11, 2007 2:09 PM PDT.
Bush cannot afford to go through a Democratic-controlled Senate hearing for a new AG. Gonzo's in for the duration.
I do not understand why Gonzales was not pressed on what he means by taking responsibility for the way the firings were handled. He seems to think that there should be no consequence for being asleep at the wheel. His interpretation of taking responsibility appears to be that he expects people to believe him when he says that he has learned from his mistakes. Why does no one ask him why the attorneys should not be rehired, since their firing was botched so badly and has the stench of politics?
It's all well and good to publicly expose him and the world to his incompetence through repeated questioning of the same matters, but unless he's led to the trough of resignation, what good is any of this?
Just venting.
Listen, I don't understand why everybody wants to jump down Gonzo's throat. The guy is the only Hispanic in the United States with a job that pays over minimum wage, (excluding A-Rod). I am a fellow republican and I believe there is nothing wrong with what is happening in Iraq. I feel like people should get a clue and understand if we kill all the babies and their mothers in Iraq then we won't have to worry about them infringing on our right to take all the oil they rightfully own.
He is a moron. After all, that is the kind of people that populate the current administration. What is shocking is the tolerance the American people have with these clowns. I can say it's not my problem, but it is in a way. Bush's idiotic policies are affecting the rest of the world, not only in a practical way but also in moral terms -which is something that NORTH Americans do not seem to care anymore.
Submitted by Victoria Rum (not verified) on Fri May. 11, 2007 5:16 PM PDT.
Why is it when a common person is under questioning in a court of law they are expected to remember everything or else they are mentally disturbed?
However, when you are in a fragment of the government being placed before the courts having a problem of not recalling something is acceptable.
Pray for Peace, and God Bless You.
Submitted by dr. strange (not verified) on Sat May. 12, 2007 4:49 AM PDT.
Sadly yes, you are banana republic or at least act very much like one.
After watching this arrogant puppet perform - with the approval of the White House to bolster his contemptious manner - it is my considered opinion that the entire mob of Bush appointees should be removed and the President and Vice President be impeached.
