What is there left to say? Alberto Gonzales is a good enough lawyer to know better than to bullshit Congress. Yet he does it anyway. He lied. He refused to answer questions. He had no problem making a complete fool of himself. By now it should go without saying that the cabinet officer in charge of America’s law enforcement has disgraced his office.
I understand that insiders regard Gonzales as somewhat less than a genius, but I find it hard to believe that he is as profound a moron as his recent testimony lets on. The only other reason a normally functioning person would show such a callous disregard for the law and, honestly, his own legal jeopardy is if he knows that there won’t be any consequences. I doubt that he cares whether Congress manages to impeach him before the clock runs out on 1/20/09 (it would be quite a feat if they did). Anything else Congress can do will be cleared up by a pardon before he sets foot in jail.
Gonzales is quite literally acting out the scenario spelled out by the Constitution’s most prominent contemporary skeptics:
George Mason, a distinguished Virginian who refused to sign the Constitution because of its lack of a bill of rights, noted that “the President of the United States has the unrestrained Power of granting Pardon for Treason; which may be sometimes exercised to screen from Punishment those whom he had secretly instigated to commit the Crime, and thereby prevent a Discovery of his own guilt.”
And so it is. Now that we see it in play the loophole seems pretty obvious. So why did it take this long to manifest? Dave John Rogers (um, oops) pointed out a while back that while the option was always there, pulling it off would require an almost total inability to feel shame. Once you figure out that little exploit, though, anything’s possible.
rachel
Gonzo thinks Congress either won’t or can’t do anything to him. The sad thing is, he might be right.
Zifnab
Fixed. Also, keep in mind that politics has always been a bit of a good ol’ boys club. Senator A scratches Attorney General B’s back. Congressman C smiles and nods at Secretary of State D’s confirmation. Why? Because when all four of these people break the law, none of them will ever rat the other one out. No need for this to go all the way to the President, because everyone is already so entrenched in the system that they’d never dare turn on each other.
Republicans broke that code of ethics by totally rating out every last Dem in the party they could put their fingers on. Then they went on a one-party bonanza of illegal activity. They’ve spent the last twelve years slowly breaking the system to screw over their opposition, and politicians just weren’t supposed to do that one or two hundred years ago. They system was already supposed to be rigged in their favor.
Banzai Bunny
That would be *John* Rogers, btw.
bird
The look on AG’s face as he and the whole gallery were given a short history of Gonzo and his love affair with the death penalty was priceless.
What a horrid little (and I stress little) monster.
HunterBlackLuna
Ouch. Again, I guess that Congress will lack the juevos to take him doooooooown! but I hope so.
Jake
Because even Nixon wasn’t this big a pig.
Dave
Well the Judiciary committee just filed contempt charges against Meyers, etc.
We’ll see.
Face
Reality trumps emotion every time.
Wilfred
Amen. As hard as that it is to appreciate sometimes, Bush makes Nixon look like Pericles. As much as a scumbag as Mitchell was, and he was, there was still some inherent sense of a line between country and politics, that’s why they all got thrown out.
We need a hero, someone on the inside, to shine a light on all this, and fast.
Zifnab
We’ll see what? This is like watching a chess game when it’s already been declared Mate in 3. We know exactly what is going to happen. The only question is whether Bush’s cronies completely miss their move or if Bush will flip the board at the end of the game.
Judiciary committee files charges. Justice Department blanket refuses to press them. Judiciary committee screams into the wind.
Crust
It’s high time to impeach Gonzales. Pelosi has taken impeaching Bush off the table for now, but there’s nothing stopping them from impeaching Gonzales. We just need to bring the pressure to bear. We should also be pushing for a special prosecutor.
Sstarr
WHERE OH WHERE IS JOHN ASHCROFT!!!
Never thought I’d say that.
taodon
The Bush Admin uses ‘sploits? No wonder they’re all gear and no skill!
Crust
Specter is calling for a special prosecutor. Anything we can do to help him out?
Wilfred
As pleasant it is to contemplate the snot nose, unctuous creature being tossed it just isn’t going to happen. I think the Dem leadership recognizes how Rover would use it to offset any losses in the Hispanic vote – ‘they got him because he was Mexican!’
If this criminal war isn’t enough to drag Bush down, sniping at creeps like Gonzalez won’t make a difference. Just keep it out there, under as much light as possible.
The one person they’re afraid of, I think, is Ashcroft. He seems to be too straight and narrow to lie for Bush. Get him to testify and contradict Gonzo.
The Other Steve
I thought he was from Guatemala?
Anyway, none of this matters. The minute they try to impeach Gonzales, the President will pardon him.
LITBMueller
All I can say is, I am GLAD Bush surrounded himself with people like Gonzo, Brownie, Meyers, Libby, Rove, Goodling, Taylor, etc., etc., etc.
Can you imagine how fucked we’d be if he had hired good liars who knew how to get away with shit?
…phew!…
yet another jeff
But would Ashcroft testify? Seems that we’re teetering on the edge of some serious mud and fuckup here.
myiq2xu
I say let Al Neri take Fredo fishing.
myiq2xu
“Because even Nixon wasn’t this big a pig.
Jeezus! I never thought I’d miss ol’ Tricky Dick!
How bad is it when you make the only President to resign in disgrace look GOOD?
Chris Johnson
The question that comes to my mind is, what happens if Cheney has the traitorous executive-hating Congress rounded up and shot?
Sometimes it’s not so much a question of legalities, it becomes a question of which people in which uniforms refuse to obey madmen. This the madmen ever fail to believe… Mussolini ended up strung up by his heels. There’s nothing more despicable than a _failed_ tyrant.
Otto Man
I think we’re going to have to put an asterisk next to Gonzalez’s status as “the first Hispanic Attorney General.”
Not because he’s not authentically Hispanic. He just bears no resemblance at all to an Attorney General.
Jake
To judge from people who’ve spoken out in the past, as in well past the time they should have said something [Looks at Powell], we need to pray a publishing house starts offering major book deals to everyone left in the Admin, with the condition they provide a working draft in the next six months.
I on the other hand am rooting for a coward. How do a lot of major criminals get taken down? An associate loads their pants and squeals to the cops.
We need a big puss who is close enough to the stench in the Oval Office to know how bad things would be if the public caught a whiff.
Some bastard who is gobbling Tums like Rush Limpbag in an Oxycontin factory because his gut is a seething pit of acid and bile.
Some fat jelly who wakes up from nightmares that he’s been thrown in prison for all of the crimes he joyfully carried out for the president and his cell mate is a big violent lonely man who is hung like Sea Biscuit.
We need a coward. A coward is likely to decide that if he throws himself on the mercy of Congress now he might be perceived as a hero. And he won’t wind up bunking with Sea Biscuit.
Tim F.
In fact, smart government officials start drafting their exculpatory memoirs practically the day they’re hired. So I have no doubt that the White House curtains will still have gold-embroidered W’s on them when the first tell-alls start coming out. Before then, nah. Cheney’ll find a way to Plame you.
rachel
Well, there is that for a silver lining. I think maybe there’s a law been proposed for this kind of situation; something about how short-term thinkers are less successful the farther along they go.
jake
Um… So, you’re saying no remaining Bushite has started drafting his memoirs. Right. Makes sense. The smart ones GtFo already. I guess the ones who are left have to wait until Karl tells them what they remember.
Nice. Very nice. If Plame (v.) doesn’t make it into the OED and M-W, there’s no justice in the world.
J. Michael Neal
The minute they try to impeach Gonzales, the President will pardon him.
True, but this is tangential. A pardon has nothing to do with impeachment.