The pathetic testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday left me wondering whether he really believes that he can hang onto his job. If he's loyal to President Bush, Gonzales should step down over how he handled the U.S. attorney firing mess, as well as the many stories he has told about his involvement in the process that lead to the firings. Gonzales has lost all credibility on this issue.
Even Republicans in the Senate were skeptical Thursday. This is from today's Los Angeles Times:
"Your characterization of your participation is significantly, if not totally, at variance with the facts," said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), the ranking Republican on the committee.Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) called the explanations "a stretch."
"It's clear to me that some of these people just had personality conflicts with people in your office or at the White House and, you know, we made up reasons to fire them," Graham said.
"There are some very serious problems, Mr. Attorney General," said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.). "Your ability to lead the Department of Justice is in question."
Sen. Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) was more blunt. "The best way to put this behind us is your resignation," he told Gonzales, becoming the second Republican member of the Senate to call for the attorney general to quit.
I won't get into what the Democrats said. The Republicans seem to have a handle of Gonzales' ability to lead the Justice Department.
Gonzales has accomplished something I never would have thought possible - he's made John Ashcroft look good in comparison. Ashcroft pushed his own agenda which I believe was detrimental to our rights, but at least he had a degree of integrity. Gonzales is looking more and more like little more than a political operative.
It looks like our Republican friends may have to decide between their loyalty to their party and their loyalty to the President, since those two loyalties are becoming increasingly incompatible.
what struck me while listening to the hearings, was how," out of the loop", he is...pathetic is an apt characterization,...more frightening is the fact that he's ostensibly in charge of the f.b.i..
I agree Mr. Gonzalez must go. I came to that conclusion long before Thursday when he declared before the Senate Judiciary Committee that there is no guarantee of habeas corpus in the Constitution. Anyone who can read can find that in the Constitution. In fact, the Supreme Court a long time ago found President Lincoln acted illegaly by suspending the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War. And our attorney general cdidn't know that? Gad.
Inarticulate? Yes! Criminal? No! It's not AG Alberto Gonzales the Demos are after, it's Bush! Remember, last year, the Demos vowed to flex their subpoena and investigative muscles if elected, to do anything and everything to "get" Bush. There is just something about Bush that drives Demos crazy. They can't work from an unbiased perspective; they are so unbalanced mentally when it comes to "things Bush." It's like flashing a red cape in front of a frothing bull; they insanely, irrationally, blindly, charge into the fray not caring who else gets hurt or trampled.
It's one of the most startling and dispiriting things I've ever seen - such hatred for one human being transcends all reason!
Yes, it's all about Bush for you, isn't it? It seems like no matter what the issue, whether it's Iraq, Katrina or the firings of U.S. attorneys, all some people see is a personal vendetta against Bush. It's almost like you're protecting a dysfunctional family member.
No, Mike it's not all about Bush with me. (I like him as a person, a decent and for the most part upstanding man). Would you believe that I have yet to vote for any Bush, father or son? (I don't vote for non-conservatives).
I have no love for Bush's compulsion to compromise standards of morality (that darn political correctness, again!), his pandering toward the homosexual crowd, his equating of Islam as the equal of Christianity, his failure to stand true for his supposed evangelical Christian faith.
As an aside, did you note that at the VT memorial service that every religious leader from every religion was favorably referenced except Jesus? Bush was disappointing in invoking a vague, wishy-washy concept of "God," but strangely and almost in a state of Neo-blasphemy, avoided the name of Jesus. That's offensive to me! That's political correctness gone too far!
BTW, my choice to NOT vote for George Bush goes back a few years. It has to do with a vow I made not to do so, if he as governor of Texas, executed Karla Faye Tucker.
Still, he is my president and as mistaken as some of his beliefs are, he is still, by far, better than any Democrat. At least Bush is not calling for our defeat in Iraq like the cut-and-run Demos.
Not to belabor my point, but in your two posts combined, you devoted about 4 words to defending Gonzales, with the rest devoted to Bush. Yet it's not about Bush to you?
The bovine reference; How appropriate!
Hey TC, speaking of bull... the animal is color-blind.
The red cape is just something for the toreador to flourish about. It holds the attention of the audience and gives the bull something moving to focus on.
Hmm...just like what political parties do with people or incidents in order to affect, manipulate, or move their agendas. Think: Who's the toreador? And are you the bull or a spectator?
A bull charges because of the torture it receives until it's deemed to have the right temperament for ensuring the greatest entertainment value to the masses: MAD!!
Hmm...kind of like the ceaseless banter of needling and prodding that occurs between the Democrats and Republicans.
Or between people of different minds, like on these blogs.
So,please keep on blogging. My husband and I enjoy reading the debates, opinions, and info. It's much more entertaining than TV!
i dont vote for those bushes either,t.c.,ever since i found out how heavily invested they were in the third riech...well, it just left a bad taste in my mouth. but who could have ever imagined that the retarded ne'er-do-well son would make such a fine war president?
If it's not about President Bush and his people what is it about? With Libby and Gonzalez no laws were broken.Meanwhile Dems are getting a free pass who have actually broken laws.What gives?John, please enlighten us on the Third Reich connection.Ann, don't you just love when the bull gores the matador and tosses him/her around like a rag doll and I also enjoy seeing those idiots get trampled during the "Running of the Bulls".Can you find a way to weave that into your meaningless analogy?
What do you mean "no laws were broken"? Lying to a grand jury (as Libby was convicted of) is against the law. It's a more serious offense than lying in a civil deposition, which the Republicans felt was a serious enough crime to impeach a president for.
It's too soon to say if Gonzales broke any laws yet. If he fired a federal prosecutor in order to impede an ongoing criminal investigation (which may have happened in at least one case), that may indeed be violation of the law, your contrary legal opinion notwithstanding.
prescot bush was indicted and convicted for trading with the nazi's,after the state dept. made that a "giving aid and comfort to the enemy" offense( we were at war w/ them), on appeal,they found a friendly judge, literaly, a friend of the family, paid a fine...it went away...don't get me started on iran/contra, suffice to say, these are very cynical people.