Gonzales is running out of friends

In trying to get a sense of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ job security — he said this morning that his fate is in the president’s hands — I keep watching the GOP. The key Dems have said all the right things, including calling for his resignation, but Democratic pressure alone will probably not be enough […]

‘The real problem we have right now with Carol Lam’

In the last post, we looked at some of the big picture news relating to the prosecutor purge, but let’s not neglect some of the specific cases fueling this scandal. Take, for example, what we’ve learned about Carol Lam’s firing in San Diego, which certainly appears to have been connected to her corruption investigation of […]

‘Prepare to withstand political upheaval’

D. Kyle Sampson, the recently-resigned chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, wrote a memo to his White House cohorts shortly before the prosecutor purge, telling them to “prepare to withstand political upheaval.” At least he got that right. After another day of scrutiny of internal communications, new and juicy tidbits about the purge […]

Tuesday’s Mini-Report

Today’s edition of quick hits (that do not relate to the purge scandal. For that mini-report, check here). * The president of Air America Radio this morning sent a letter to the chairmen of four state Republican parties, offering to host and broadcast the state parties’ upcoming presidential debates. “Should you accept Air America’s offer, […]

The dirge of the purge

The news items about the prosecutor purge scandal have been flying fast and furious today, so perhaps it’s worthwhile to pause and consider what we’ve learned since the morning. * The New York Times reported that the White House “was deeply involved in the decision late last year to dismiss federal prosecutors, including some who […]

Gonzales: ‘Mistakes were made’

If there’s a way [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag] survives this scandal, I don’t see it. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that “[tag]mistakes were made[/tag]” regarding the firing of eight U.S. attorneys and he accepts responsibility for the ordeal. “My pledge to the American people is to find out what went wrong here,” he said. “As we […]

‘The blogosphere was the engine on this story’

Time’s Jay Carney has a message for the blogs who’ve been covering the prosecutor purge scandal from the beginning: We were right, he was wrong. Twelve days ago, after David Iglesias went public, I said that if there turned out to be a broad conspiracy behind the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, “I will take […]

‘Burtonian strategies’

I suspect it must be difficult to be a Republican press flack right now, given the political environment and multiple political scandals in the air, but this spin was unintentionally hilarious. The situation is surprisingly straightforward. Rep. Henry A. Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is likely to ask White House […]

The inane ‘Clinton did it too’ defense

As the prosecutor purge scandal continues to become more serious and more damaging for the Bush gang, the right has struggled to come up with a coherent defense. They seem to have embraced one, but it’s surprisingly weak. Karl Rove got the ball rolling last week. “Look, by law and by Constitution [sic], these attorneys […]

Dems smell blood in the water

The WaPo noted this morning that “administration officials say they are braced for a new round of criticism today from lawmakers who may feel misled by recent testimony” from Justice Department officials. Since those officials appear to have been lying blatantly, it appears that lawmakers have reason to “feel misled.” As it happens, this has […]