Gonzales Gets a (Short) Reprieve
The US Senate has postponed AG Alberto Gonzales’ testimony, which was scheduled for tomorrow, till Thursday, acknowledging the horror of today’s massacre at Virginia Tech. Under other circumstances, he’d probably be glad of the extra prep time, but I’m sure he’s as devastated as the rest of us.
He might want to work a bit more on this statement from yesterday’s op-ed piece in the Washington Post:
While I have never sought to deceive Congress or the American people, I also know that I created confusion with some of my recent statements about my role in this matter. To be clear: I directed my then-deputy chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, to initiate this process; fully knew that it was occurring; and approved the final recommendations. Sampson periodically updated me on the review. As I recall, his updates were brief, relatively few in number and focused primarily on the review process.
During those conversations, to my knowledge, I did not make decisions about who should or should not be asked to resign.
To his knowledge, he didn’t make decisions? Okay, if he’d said something like that at a press conference, it could possibly be dismissed as misspeaking, but this was a written piece, most likely vetted by his attorney. So does he think he inadvertently transmitted some kind of signal to Kyle Sampson? And, more importantly, why doesn’t he want to admit that he made the decisions regarding who stayed and who was fired? Wouldn’t that be part of his job? Deborah has more at If I Ran the Zoo.
Anyway, Kyle Sampson and Michael Battle have already thrown Gonzales under the bus, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that Gonzales’ statements regarding the firing of eight US Attorneys were, um, “incomplete” at best. Even Richard Viguerie wants him gone.
I’m really surprised that W hasn’t already started distancing himself from Gonzales. This whole mess stinks of the co-opting of the justice system for political gain. Of course, George is still pretending that he has a majority-Republican lapdog Congress that will let him get away with anything, so he probably thinks he can bluff his way out of it.
Not this time. Stay tuned.
April 16th, 2007 at 9:53 pm
Under other circumstances, he’d probably be glad of the extra prep time, but I’m sure he’s as devastated as the rest of us.
You’re unbelievably nicer than some. Even I was close to taking a jab at him.
April 16th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Oh, I’ll take jabs at him, but not about that. He may be a crappy AG, but he’s a human being.
April 16th, 2007 at 11:45 pm
I’m not surprised W hasn’t distanced himself - his vote of confidence is becoming a prelude to a career end - rummy? brownie?
if I could be allowed a mild jab - I pray the horror at Va Tech today isn’t a sign of things to come - not *terrorism* but just a general attitude, meanness maybe, that’s been taking hold in this country of late. so many seem perfectly comfortable wishing death and destruction on nameless, faceless groups who they seem to forget are actually people, our ‘president’ lobbies congress *for* torture…….
what are we becoming?
I’ve been teary-eyed all day about the Va Tech students, but I’m teary-eyed every day about their counterparts in Iraq and Afghanistan too, kids with potential that will come to nothing, and for no good reason.
at what point do we decide this has all become too ugly? and then what do we do about it? I’m at a loss.
April 17th, 2007 at 9:20 am
Meanness? Try evil. Evil is a lot different than what you claim about the pres lobbying for “torture”. Don’t even lump those in the same category.
April 17th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
BL,
Evil is evil. Murder is evil. Torture is evil. I see lots of gray in the world. I see no gray in either of those statements.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:30 am
First you are assuming the interrogation used against terrorists amounts to torture. Second you are claiming waterboarding or sensory deprivation equals beheading, rape, murder, strapping bombs to your kids and sending them into a cafe full of civilians, flying a plane into a building. They are not equal. You are right no gray in that statement.
April 18th, 2007 at 7:58 pm
So when the enemy does it to you and other Americans defending me and my family, I’m supposed to think it’s okay? That it’s not immoral?