Gonzales’ silly defense

August 2, 2007

The leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee have been waiting, patiently, for Alberto Gonzales to “clarify” his sworn testimony, and make some kind of acknowledgement of his deceptions. Without some kind of concession from the AG’s office, lawmakers are far more likely to pursue perjury charges.

Yesterday, our embattled Attorney General threw up an air ball.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales offered a narrowly drawn defense of his recent Congressional testimony on Wednesday, saying he had been truthful in denying that there had been serious disagreements within the Bush administration about the National Security Agency’s program of wiretapping without warrants.

In a letter to leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Gonzales said a dispute between the Justice Department and the White House in March 2004 involved other N.S.A. surveillance activities, not that domestic eavesdropping program. He said the White House first called the eavesdropping the Terrorist Surveillance Program after it was publicly disclosed in December 2005 and confirmed by President Bush.

He added that the confusion might have been acute among those “who may be accustomed to thinking of them or referring to them together as a single N.S.A. program.”

That’s the key word: confusion. Gonzales wasn’t willing to admit he lied; he was only willing to concede that his version of the truth may have caused confusion. It’s the AG’s subtle attempt to turn the tables — “I wasn’t wrong; you just didn’t understand correctly.”

So, are skeptical senators satisfied with the stunning spin? Not so much.

“After reading the letter,” Mr. Schumer said, “we renew our call for a special prosecutor” to investigate Mr. Gonzales.

Mr. Specter, the ranking Republican, delivered a scathing critique of the attorney general’s conduct and the letter, but said it would be very hard to prove he had committed perjury.

“I disagree with him categorically where he says ‘I’ve tried to provide frank answers,’ ” Mr. Specter told reporters. “I don’t think he did try to provide frank answers. When he says he may have created confusion, it was more than confusion, it was misleading. He did not tell the whole truth.”

“His testimony was a cat-and-mouse game with the committee,” the senator added, “and that’s not the way the attorney general of the United States ought to treat the Senate Judiciary Committee.”

Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy added, “The Attorney General’s legalistic explanation of his misleading testimony under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week is not what one should expect from the top law enforcement officer of the United States. It is time for full candor to enforce the law and promote justice, rather than word parsing.”

Leahy continues to be generous with his deadlines. If yesterday’s letter was an obvious failure, Leahy is ready to give the AG a make-up exam — Gonzales will have until tomorrow afternoon to resolve the discrepancies in his testimony.

And as long as we’re on the subject, there’s been some speculation about how on earth Bush could keep such a walking, talking joke around as Attorney General. Is it just out of loyalty? Is the president acting out of spite? Does Gonzales have compromising pictures of Bush?

Sidney Blumenthal explains that Bush needs Gonzales — because Gonzales helps protect the White House’s secrets (particularly those involving Cheney and Rove).

Omerta (or a code of silence) has become the final bond holding the Bush administration together. Honesty is dishonorable; silence is manly; penitence is weakness. Loyalty trumps law. Protecting higher-ups is patriotism. Stonewalling is idealism. Telling the truth is informing. Cooperation with investigators is cowardice; breaking the code is betrayal. Once the code is shattered, however, no one can be trusted and the entire edifice crumbles.

If Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were miraculously to tell the truth, or if he were to resign or be removed, the secret government of the past six years would be unlocked.

Time’s Massimo Calabresi adds a few other possibilities.

1. Gonzales is all that stands between the White House and special prosecutors….

2. A post-Gonzales DOJ would be in the hands of a nonpartisan, tough prosecutor, not a political hand….

3. If Gonzales goes, the White House fears that other losses will follow….

4. Nobody at the White House wants the legal bills and headaches that come with being a target of investigations.

Stay tuned.

I am partial to Blumenthal’s banana republic analysis. This WH crowd, as thinly as it is becoming, has shown its disdain for the rule of law. Their only option, is would seem, is to circle the wagons and shoot at the hordes that would dare challenge their puissance. -Kevo

  • And once again Arlen “Spineless” Specter does his famous human pretzel act. If Bush and Cheney were to declare that the sun in fact rises in the west, after loudly questioning their pronouncement, the Spineless one would come up with an interpretation that said maybe they were right and the rest of the world wrong.

    I have said for months that Bush will keep Gonzo on until the end because he cannot afford someone with a shred of integrity in the AG spot and he cannot face a Senate confirmation hearing. I am not a Constitutional scholar. Does anyone know for sure whether recess appointments are allowed at the Cabinet level? Afterall, cabinet members are in the official line of succesion for the presidency. Then again, this administration has shown that they don’t give a damn about the Constitution. Still, if Bush wants to push Gonzo overboard and do an August recess appointment, he does have to find someone who is as willing to lie and cover-up as Gonzo, and who also does not care about how history looks at him. What is Robert Bork doing these days? He has a track record of doing whatever a president tells him and not caring about the country.

    The Dems need to come up with a plan whereby the Congress does not go into an official recess in August. Between the House and the Senate there are about 200 of them — they should keep Congress officially in session with rotating members staying in Washington the whole month. It would only mean a day or two apiece. Surely they can sacrifice a day or two of vacation time for the country?

  • although others on this site don’t agree with me, i am a big supporter of pat leahy and the way he is proceeding with this investigation. having said that, i believe that he is being a bit too generous in this case, and should not be giving gonzo any more time.

  • Republicans are liars.

    Democrats in the Senate should be seekers of truth and upholders of their oath of pffice. If they were there would be impeachments all around.

    Democrats are timid, self-interested enablers.

  • Maybe Leahy should back off Gonzales and leave him alone. If push comes to shove and the congress is shown to be totally powerless against the white house, we can’t keep pretending we live in a democracy.

    Gonzales is protected by Ceasar himself. There is nothing we can do.

  • MW, I actually remember reading about a plan to do that a month or two back. I’ll try hard to remeber where…

    (NOTE: Maybe I was dreaming)

  • I read that too, Mr Furious. But if you think the Dems are ready to play this as if they’re dealing with actual criminals (instead of acting like they’re dealing with people who might be criminals) then you are probably dreaming.

    Reality is more of a nightmare, of course. Every day we have Dems saying that it sure looks like crimes have been committed, and every day they keep acting like they’re not dealing with actual criminals.

  • Gee, it’s too bad there aren’t graduate schools where people could go to get training in precise use of language, and spend hours and hours learning exactly how important exact words can be, particularly in a legal context.

    Imagine if, say, Gonzo had graduated from such a school, a really good one, like the Harvard one, so that he would have such knowledge and skill with words.

    That sure would be a wonderful thing for the Attorney General of the United States to be able to do, to speak clearly when he wanted to and not in a way that confused his listeners.

    What? Oh.

    Never mind.

    BTW, what’s Leahy got going on today that has him giving Gonzo until Friday afternoon? G’s been spitting and farting at them for months now! If Pat isn’t ready to lower the boom now, what’s going to happen over the weekend?

  • And as long as we’re on the subject, there’s been some speculation about how on earth Bush could keep such a walking, talking joke around as Attorney General. Is it just out of loyalty? Is the president buckling down out of spite? Does Gonzales have compromising pictures of Bush? – Mr. CB

    Abu is a tire plug in the treadbare rolling carcass of ShrubCo. They are pumped up far beyond what’s safe and the pressure is insistently looking for a way out. If Plug Abu blows out, ShrubCo is going to be on the rim so fast it will really be shocking.

    Abu’s not the key to everything ShrubCo has f’d up and compromised, but he’s a critical weak link in a critically f’d up chain and if he goes, the load comes down.

    They are hiding shit that will be very difficult to accept. Abu must stay. He’s plug ugly but they can trust him and there’s really no alternative at this point.

  • wordpress blows. (even harder than Specter)

    That’s easier than pasting in my comment for the sixth time.

  • Leahy is doing a pretty damn good job.

    The AG has gone from a somewhat unknown man of integrity to a complete and utter clown. Public opinion is what is going to drive any impeachment proceedings. He has given Gonzo so much rope the poor fool has hung himself about 5 different ways.

    Had Leahy gone after him right away he would have looked like an over-eager partisan which hunter. Who was Gonzo six months ago, now even my Granny knows who he is. The rest of the country doesn’t read the blogs, they didn’t know what an incompetent bush-bot the man really is but thanks to Leahy, they now know. Thanks to Leahy the White House has an undeniability odor that is not going anywhere.

  • If Gonzo were to leave, some careerist at Justice might finally be able to do his job. And Shrub ain’t gonna allow that. The entire Bush Crime Family must go and that’s not going to happen while the Dems shove Impeachment off the table to cover their own political asses.

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