Did Monica Goodling just acknowledge breaking the law in pushing partisan considerations while hiring/firing US Attorneys? I might have missed the context, but it sure sounded like it.
[3:10 pm] Damn. They’re using Goodling to hang Gonzales. Goodling’s lawyers and the Republicans are freaking out. Goodling has asked to speak with her lawyer. [3:15 pm] Confusion about parliamentary rules while they look for a clerk to record a vote on the line of questioning concerning Gonzales.Reader Interactions
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guyermo
she pleaded ignorance of the fact that civil service laws are, in fact, laws.
but since ignorance of a law is no defense, yes, I guess she did.
Dreggas
Yes she did. Wish I could hear it I have to live vicariously through blogs since even the house site’s stream is blocked at work :(
zmulls
I’m listening live. She sounds like Ainsley Hayes.
AkaDad
Yes.
Dreggas have you tried C-Span 3?
Dreggas
Yeah, work has this lovely websense program that blocks access to everything *sigh*
Jake
Shorter Goodling:
I was bad but McNulty was badder!
AkaDad
Ouch
Rome Again
Yeah, I got that too! Ugh!
Dreggas
Yeah and I’m seriously jonsing here, trying to find anyone doing constant updates. TPM is great, but they aren’t fast enough for me LOL.
Dreggas
Yeah major ugh, bad enough being on the west coast and this stuff starting while I am on my way to work but to miss it due to the net police sucks harder.
True Blue Merican
http://www.firedoglake.com/ . they live blog all 3 rings when the Circus is in town.
AkaDad
They just got back from recess.
Tsulagi
I like the tagline on a MSNBC story on Goodling’s testimony: “Not Fully Candid.” That’s Goodling referring to Gonzo’s #2 congressional testimony.
How many euphemisms can these people come up with for covering up or lying out your ass?
AkaDad
2302(b) of title 5 of the United States Code
(1) discriminate against an employee or applicant based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicapping condition, marital status, or political affiliation;
AkaDad
Oops. I forgot the link.
AkaDad
Lee? just said Rove needs to testify post haste…
demimondian
Goodling’s under a grant of immunity — she just showed that she needed it. Interestingly, though, going back her original invocation of the Fifth, she has not testified to anything damning about the prosecutor purge, but only about the abuse of the civil service.
grumpy realist
“Jus’ a good-hearted child, thass all ah am, ah didn’t know ah wuz doin’ anythin’ wrong, lawdy, lawdy….”
Or in other words, the “Who, me?” defense.
PeterJ
She graduated summa cum laude in a class where 50-60% failed the bar exam the first time….
Wow.
AkaDad
I laughed when he asked what the will of God is regarding the legal profession.
cfw
She pleads no “mens rea” – no evil intent.
I suspect the crime she could be charged with is at most a general intent crime (not specific intent) or a strict liability offense. Even if the crime definition calls for general wrongful intent, how does one (a lawyer) inadvertently reject a job candidate because he/she is not republican? Ignorance about what the law requires is not a defense. Maybe she wants to claim she was relying on advice of counsel (Kyle S? some other lawyer) – that would be a possible defense to a specific intent crime.
She looks like she will want to put herself in line for a pardon sooner rather than later, after a plea.
Probably she did not spend much time studying criminal law. Wise Presidents and AG’s only put deeply experienced top grads from top law schools into top DOJ positions for a reason – those with less qualifications and experience risk becoming early casualties.
Could you imagine Roberts or Alioto when they were at DOJ shooting themselves in the foot before Congress like MG did (without even pausing or forcing the examiner to ask a decent question)?
Religious purity is not a substitute for the proper resume – which MG did not have.
The Other Steve
That’s because the bar exam is notably atheist in it’s origins. Had the class taken the Sharia Law bar exam, they would have done splendidly.
‘What is the punishment for eating pork?’
‘To what extent is the punishment extended if the infraction occured on the sabbath?’
Thomas
Is it just me or is Monica Goodling vaguely sexy?
ThymeZone
Except when they conflict with God’s Law, in which case, fuck the laws of man, right? Isn’t that what they are teaching in these new faith-based schools now?
Bruce Moomaw
Well, she’s certainly vague. I don’t know if the “sexy” part applies.
In that context, note that — just like everyone else in this Administration — she has absolutely no idea how that list of US Attorneys to be fired was created (except for implying that Paul McNulty was lying about his degree of responsibility for it). We are now ensconced firmly in the Thomas Nast Tweed Ring Cartoon phase where this scandal is concerned.
Rome Again
Depends, are you looking at the package or the contents too?
The contents, it seems, leave much to be desired, but the package itself looks fair enough to assume someone would think it was pretty.
If you desire to play with the box, I say that could be a common fantasy. If you think the contents in the box are mesmerizing, I think you need a psychiatrist, personally.
Dreggas
Can we please just remove the republicans from this hearing? They are pathetic.
Jake
Is there a protocol for witnesses who start to “bawl their eyes out”?
They might need it.
Monica Goodling, WATB 2007.
Rex
I thought she was testifying under immunity? Does it really matter if she inadvertently admits to crimes if she has immunity?
Dreggas
She’s immune from prosecution in a court of law but not in the court of public opinion. Of course what has me shaking my head right now is she is admitting to having broken the law (inadvertantly my ass) and the republicans are PRAISING HER!
PeterJ
CNN, thankfully, helped to cure me from any such thoughts.
Dreggas
Yeah that’ll do it, nothing like going all fish face.
Andrew
I believe she has use immunity but no complete transactional immunity, so she could indeed be prosecuted for any of these crimes if there is other evidence besides her statements.
The Other Steve
I’m sad that I’m missing all of this.
Dreggas
I would prefer to listen to it as well but FDL has kept me from completely fiending, of course I just wish I could hear her as she’s throwing Gonzales under the bus.
The Other Steve
Don’t worry. Teflon Gon won’t be impacted by any of this.
Dreggas
not by resignation perhaps but goodling is even fingering him for witness tampering.
grumpy realist
She must be a pretty damn bad lawyer if she keeps “wanting to speak to her lawyer.”
Hello, this woman went to law school? Didn’t she learn all this stuff already?
Summa Cum Laude ain’t what it used to be, baby.
Tulkinghorn
Law school ain’t what it used to be, baby.
Krista
Tee hee…
(Yes, I’m way too easily amused…)