Confidence, schmonfidence

May 18, 2007

This morning’s White House press gaggle, hosted by Bush spokesperson Tony Fratto, was genuinely amusing. I realize bringing in a third-string press secretary is no way to get the White House’s A game, but this was just silly.

Q: Senators Schumer and Feinstein are going to introduce a no confidence resolution for Attorney General Gonzales next week, the Senate is going to vote on this. You have a sixth Republican, Norm Coleman, come out and say the Attorney General should resign. Doesn’t this all add up to the weight that’s dragging him down? And how can he be effective with all —

FRATTO: I think it adds up to the bottomless bag of tricks that Democrats in the Senate would like to pull out on a weekly basis, regarding the Attorney General. The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President….

Q: You addressed the Democratic part of that question. You didn’t say anything about the six Republicans. And you also had Specter saying that he predicts that he’ll resign — Gonzales will resign, saying that he’s unable to perform his duties. What about the Republicans?

FRATTO: We understand that there are senators who have different views.

When Democrats want Gonzales gone, they’re playing games. When Republicans want him gone, they’re holding “different views.” It led to this gem:

Q: Would the White House consider a vote of no confidence to have any procedural impact at all, or would you consider it an empty political stunt?

FRATTO: I think we would consider it to be just another political stunt.

Q: Is it not important for the Attorney General to have the confidence of Congress?

FRATTO: It’s important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner. And that’s going to ebb and flow, but it will not ebb and flow with this President and this Attorney General.

I think they’re going to have to impeach him. The White House made a right turn at Crazy Town and are headed for Madness City.

Democrats need to realize that the no-confidence vote is merely the appetizer on the way to impeachment – and that it’s just the tip of the iceberg.

  • Impeach. Them. All. Now.

    First Gonzo.

    Then Cheney.

    Then Rove.

    Then if there is any time left on the clock, Bush.

  • Good grief! These guys are arrogant bastards.

    As soon as they leave Madness City they’ll be driving right towards Martial Lawsville.

  • Impeaching Gonzo would be a most excellent adventure. Along the way, all manner of sordid details would likely come to light implicating the White House (hopefully all the way to the Big House). There’s no downside.

  • Completely divorced from reality.

    What these people seem to be oblivious to is that this is not just about one man, but about the effect of that man’s actions, and the actions of those working at his direction, on the credibility of the entire Department of Justice.

    This is about trust, not just in one man, but in an entire system that is based on respect for, and the fair and just application of, the rule of law. No, it’s not perfect, and never has been, but preserving a culture of objectivity requires independence, not allegiance to a partisan political agenda.

    It is insulting to the intelligence of the American people to have a WH spokesperson stand up and refer to the no-confidence vote as a political stunt. I suppose it is consistent with an administration that sees everything through a political lens, and assumes that politics is everyone’s motivation.

    MAkes me so mad I could scream.

  • Rove can’t be impeached. He can only be fired or “asked” to resign.

    Bush will never be impeached with Cheney sitting there. Cheney will have to be impeached. If that were ever a serious prospect (and I doubt that considering how popular he is with the red-meat base), he’d suddenly develop health problems and resign.

    I don’t think the Republicans would ever vote to install President Pelosi. The only scenario that makes sense is Cheney resigns, Bush appoints someone who is acceptable to Republicans and Democrats as a caretaker President, and then Bush is impeached. And I don’t see that happening.

    Most probably Bush, if put in that position, would nominate Condi Rice to be VP (history! First African-American! First woman!), and several months would be wasted in hearings and debate. Whoever he nominated, it wouldn’t be someone that both sides could live with.

    (Fun game to play, though — if you could name a caretaker President to do the last year of Bush’s term, who would it be? It has to be someone who won’t run for re-election, who Democrats think isn’t an idiot, and who Republicans accept……the way Gerald Ford was an acceptable substitute for Nixon (but ran for the office again, which won’t be an acceptable option this time)

  • FRATTO: It’s important for any public official to have as much confidence as he can garner. And that’s going to ebb and flow, but it will not ebb and flow with this President and this Attorney General.

    Bush needs to realize that it’s not low tide; public confidence has been evaporating for some time now, and he’s in the middle of a long drought with no end in sight.

  • Q: You addressed the Democratic part of that question. You didn’t say anything about the six Republicans. […]

    And then there were 5…
    http://tinyurl.com/3ytobo

    By the time the Senate gets around to this — meaningless by any count — vote, there’ll be no Repub chickens willing to put their hands up in support. All they ever do is flap their wings and lips in public. Quite understandable, too, seeing that their Dem counterparts don’t do much more but excuse their inaction.

  • But.. But… Impeachment is a dirty word, remember???

    The Republicans totally misused the process, so Democrats can’t ever use it! The public will never understand that it can be used or misused, they just will not understand!!!

    Someone please tell the Dems that America needs them to do their fucking jobs, and impeach the bastard already. And once you see how easy that is, you can pull up your pants and get rid of the real cancer.

    sheesh.

  • As Bush’s consigliere, Gonzales knows where all the rotting corpses are buried, so Bush wants him on his side. Also, with Gonzales in as Attorney General, Bush retains control of the prosecutorial machinery of the U.S. Government. No confirmable successor would give him that assurance. Impeachment is the only way Gonzales will leave.

  • Whatever effect Mr. Comey’s revelations have on the length of Gonzalez’s career, they have sure wiped that buttlicker grin off his face. Remember last week, when he was smirking and chuckling during his testimony, as if he knew he was bulletproof?

    If Democrats really do have a trick bag, they’d be wise to dump out the tricks, put in Gonzalez and a couple of big rocks, and toss it in the Potomac.

  • White house briefings are busy work for so-called journalists. Is there a family out there these Bush guys need to spend more time with. No I’m not volunteering my family.

  • to hell with the political calculations. to hell with the fear of a year and change with president cheney, who would be an even lamer duck than bush is. congress must begin the impeachment process immediately.
    this goes beyond partisan politics. these guys are taking apart our constitutional order and the rule of law, and are doing so in the most obvious, egregious ways possible. they have to be stopped. when people like john ashcroft are willing to resign rather than be party to the administration’s policies and programs, it’s a sign that they’ve crossed a line way beyond anything even the nuttiest conspiracy theorist would consider reasonable.
    america is under attack, and not just in the narrow sense of threats to national security. the very soul of our nation is being taken apart, right in front of out eyes. all the good things we stand for, as americans, are being thrown to the wolves, one by one. how long until we’re not really america anymore?
    bush must be impeached, for the health and well-being of our democracy, for the hopes and dreams of all americans, from our founding fathers to the present day, for the sake of all we hold dear as a people and a nation, for the shining city on a hill we have always meant ourselves to be.
    the system can work. we just need the will to act. and i, for one, believe in us.

  • ***As soon as they leave Madness City they’ll be driving right towards Martial Lawsville.***
    ————————————-The sister

    Remember Waco? There are far too many militant conservatives in America who are itching for a chance to kick government out of their homes and lives. There are also a good many militant liberals wanting to do the same thing. Put those two extremist camps together with a mutually-beneficial agenda, and Bu$h finds himself fighting a two-front campaign—on US soil.

    I’m thinking along the lines that he’ll try to immobilize the opposition from an economic standpoint. Ratchet fuel prices through the roof, and use it as a siege weapon. Cripple distribution of bulk electric, natural gas, and coal to a “hotbed of anti-Bushism,” and it’ll be only a matter of time before a cowed population submits to his authority. And who’s to stop him? The army? They’re getting summarily ground up in Iraq right now….

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