What if Bush keeps Gonzales?

Obviously, the writing is on the [tag]Attorney General[/tag]’s wall. [tag]Tony Snow[/tag] would only say yesterday that [tag]White House[/tag] officials “hope” Gonzales stays on. There are multiple reports this morning that the search is already on for a new AG, and a list of possible replacements is already being floated, presumably as a trial balloon. But […]

The ‘blame Schumer’ talking point

Over the weekend, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) offered a new complaint about the purge scandal that seems to be a new GOP favorite. “When the leader of the effort on the judiciary committee is the leader of the Democratic Senatorial campaign Committee, Chuck Schumer, I think it undermines the legitimacy of a legitimate inquiry…. Senator […]

Gonzales was ‘extremely upset’ when his deputy acknowledged reality

Thousands of pages of documents were released by the Justice Department last night, and no one has yet been able to read them all. [tag]Purge[/tag]-related revelations of varying significance will probably come to public light throughout the day, if not the week. But at the outset, there’s one message that seems to stand out. [tag]Attorney […]

Already searching for Gonzales’ successor

At this point, it’s a matter of “when,” not “if.” The White House began floating the names of possible replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday as the Justice Department released more internal documents related to the firings of eight U.S. attorneys last year. One prominent Republican, who earlier had predicted that Gonzales would survive […]

Monday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits. * House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “We need a new Attorney General.” * Asked if Alberto Gonzales would keep his job, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters this morning, “Well, we hope so.” * If you haven’t seen it, I recommend checking out the online Iraq Veterans Memorial, put […]

Clinton’s ‘purge’ revisited

As we’ve discussed many times, one of the principal talking points for the right in response to the prosecutor purge scandal is “Clinton did it, too.” I won’t rehash the whole debate all over again, but the argument has been debunked — presidents replace the slate of U.S. Attorneys when they take office; what Bush […]

Having to dig deep to find good news on Iraq

The White House Communications Office distributes a “Morning Update” email to reporters, filled with press clippings that are favorable to the administration. Today’s included an interesting headline on the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq: “Most Iraqis Believe Life Is Getting Better.” And where did this Bush-friendly article appear? In something called the Denver […]

Republicans, Presidential Candidates, and adultery … oh my

As long-time readers may recall, I wrote a piece for the Washington Monthly last year about the fact that, for the first time in American history, three admitted adulterers (McCain, Giuliani, and Gingrich) were likely to run for president. That our two-timing trifecta belong to the Republican Party, the party that presents itself as the […]

From ‘slow bleed’ to ‘death spiral’

I know I mentioned it recently, but the quote continues to be relevant. In 2000, then-Gov. Bush blamed Clinton and Gore directly for “hollowing out” the military. “If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, ‘Not ready for duty, sir.’” Of course, if Bush wanted to […]

End game

We haven’t quite reached the impasse, but as Roll Call reports today (sub. only) it’s clearly coming right around the bend. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s effort to land presidential adviser Karl Rove as a witness runs headlong into the Bush White House’s well-established reluctance to subject high-level staffers or internal documents to Congressional scrutiny. But […]