All we’ve heard for weeks is that Alberto Gonzales needed to reassure lawmakers that he was up to the job. He needed to keep the Republicans together and keep Democrats at bay. He needed one sterling performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee to demonstrate why he’s the right man for the job.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales confronted a fresh call for his resignation from a fellow Republican Thursday as he struggled to survive a bipartisan Senate challenge to his credibility in the case of eight fired prosecutors.
“The best way to put this behind us is your resignation,” Sen. Tom Coburn bluntly told Gonzales, one GOP conservative to another.
Disagreeing, Gonzales told the Oklahoma Republican he didn’t think resigning would put the controversy to rest.
That’s absolutely true, but it would put someone better in charge of the Justice Department.
At a minimum, Gonzales needed to impress the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, none of whom, before today, had called for his resignation. With them at least ostensibly in his corner, Gonzales would have at least a modicum of support to build on.
Instead, Specter seemed disgusted with him. Lindsey Graham, after listening to Gonzales, suggested the U.S. Attorneys were fired for “made up reasons.” When Gonzales pointed to alleged documentation, Graham said, “Mr. Attorney General, most of this is a stretch.” Chuck Grassley, noting that Gonzales is accepting responsibility now after initially insisting he played only a minor role, asked, “Why is your story changing?”
One gets the sense that the Republicans haven’t been won over.
Byron York, hardly a liberal observer, offered this perspective.
It has been a disastrous morning for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The major problem with his testimony is that Gonzales maintains, in essence, that he doesn’t know why he fired at least some of the eight dismissed U.S. attorneys. When, under questioning by Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, Gonzales listed the reasons for each firing, it was clear that in a number of cases, he had reconstructed the reason for the dismissal after the fact. He didn’t know why he fired them at the time, other than the action was recommended by senior Justice Department staff.
Later, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham returned to the subject. “Mr. Attorney General, most of this is a stretch,” Graham told Gonzales. “I think most of them [the U.S. attorneys] had personality disagreements with the White House, and you made up reasons to fire them.” Gonzales disagreed but had nothing to support his position. Throughout the morning, Gonzales insisted that he is the man in charge of the Justice Department, and accepted responsibility for the firings, but his testimony suggests he had little idea what was going on.
This guy spent several hours a day for a couple of weeks cramming for this day of questions … and he’s bombing badly.
There are going to be quite a few calls tonight from Senate Republicans to the White House, telling Karl Rove, “It’s time for a new AG.” Whether the president is too obstinate to listen remains to be seen, but it doesn’t look like a storm the Bush gang can weather.